Daughter of a Doctor
by summerbaytroubles
Summary: Gregory House isn't one for emotion - clearly. So when out of the blue a 23 year old girl appears on his doorstep claiming that she's his daughter and that she needs to stay, he doesn't really know how to feel. Things get even more complicated as she goes to the hospital with him everyday, she then falls for Dr Chase and her dark past slowly catches up to her...
1. Chapter 1

Talia took a deep breath and then knocked on the large brown door, fiddling with the piece of paper in her left hand. She rung the doorbell again. The door opened slowly, there stood House. "I don't want any cookies," he muttered, about to close the door again.  
>"I'm...I'm not here for cookies," Talia blinked, shufling from foot to foot. House raised an eyebrow.<br>"So...I don't want home insurance," House smiled falsely, before shutting the door. Talia sighed and knocked it again - her mum warned her that her dad would be this way. House opened it again.  
>"Oh, it's you," House muttered.<br>"Can I talk to you? I'm Talia House," Talia began shakily. House blinked at her.  
>"Thank you, pleased to meet your aquaintance, bye now," House waved.<br>"I'm your daughter," Talia snapped. House's face went into one of first disgust then disbelief and then neutral.  
>"Hmph. Come on in," he yawned, stepping to the side. Talia wasn't too sure if he was being serious now. "Or you could actually stay out there." Talia swallowed and entered the apartment, dragging her suitcase behind her. House shut the door behind her and limped to opposite where she stood, rumaging in a drawer nearby. He took out a tube and unscrewed the cap. "Say 'ah'," he instructed.<br>"Wh-" House automatically stuck a swab in her mouth and popped it back into the tube.  
>"DNA test - nothing personal, just wanted to check that Lisa didn't just send you here to get back at me for whatever I may or may not have done," House murmured, placing the tube to the side.<br>"Wait, you honestly don't seem that bothered," Talia said quickly. "Your daughter who you've never met before just turned up on your doorstep and you're not...shocked?"  
>"Shocked? Lisa Miranda Dellosius was a sneaky little-"<br>"Yeah, we get it," Talia interupted.  
>"-and I'm not surprised that she kept you as her little secret," House finished, hobbling away toward the kitchen and getting out another pills packet.<br>"Oh, that's...uh..."  
>"So what happened?" House asked briskly. "I have to admit it is a bit out of the blue, but I'm clearly due for another medication dose, so the shock will hit me later."<br>"What happened with what?" Talia asked, her legs beginning to hurt a little.  
>"Sit down," House told her casually, chucking back a few pills and popping the cap back on. Talia swallowed and settled herself down on the sofa, pressing her knees together and tapping her legs awkwardly. "So. Why are you here?"<br>"I had an argument with my mom...she called me a useless 'abortion'. It's because I told her that I didn't want to be a model, I wanted to be a doctor. She told me if I loved medicine so much I should go and find it...I.E; you," Talia said simply, staring into her dad's steely blue eyes. House nodded slowly.  
>"Sounds like Miranda indeed. Was she drunk?"<br>"She may or may not have been, I don't actually care. I have never seen her sober so I'm guessing she was. She's been like that for 18 years," Talia grumbled. "And you were where?"  
>"Don't take that tone of voice with me," House rolled his eyes, hobbling toward the fridge. Talia raised an eyebrow as House took out a bottle of water. "Did you want one?"<br>"I-"  
>"Kitchen's that way," House nodded toward the fridge. Talia bit down on her teeth and forced a smile. House looked at this girl strangely. She was pretty, very pretty. She had a delicate face with dark grey eyes with blue specks in them, and her hair was long, blonde and curly and had golden tips. She was wearing a black top and skinny black jeans, with pumps. She had a small Barbie suitcase and she just looked fed up.<br>"So you're here to...live?" House guessed.  
>"Yeah, if that's okay-"<br>"Well not really. In fact that's highly inconvenient for everything I'm practicing right now," House said hotly.  
>"Thought as much," Talia said bitterly.<br>"And until the DNA results come back I technically have no legal guardianship over you, so..." House saw Talia's eyes well up in tears and mentally broke. Something about her made him feel so sorry for her so he had to do something. "Fine, let me have Miranda's number and we'll sort something out." Talia reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, getting her mother's number up. House sighed and dialled the number. He waited, and the phone carried on ringing, then he put down the phone when it went to answer machine.  
>"You're not gonna leave a message?" Talia asked in confusion.<br>"No," House said, passing back the phone. "Until she calls back...you might as well stay...I guess. But I've gotta go to the hospital so-"  
>"Oh...can I come?" Talia suddenly popped up, standing up. House raised an eyebrow.<br>"Sure..." he said slowly. "You're weird." Talia smiled slightly.  
>"Well thanks. Don't forget those swabs...da-"<br>"NO," House said quickly. "Not Dad. House will do."  
>"Oh," Talia nodded. "Of course." House picked up the swab, opened the door and left.<p>

**- hope you guys enjoyed this chapter...I update every Friday so I'm hoping you liked this one.**

**x**


	2. Chapter 2 - Pilot

"If anyone asks," House muttered seriously, "you're a family member."

"You really don't believe I'm your daughter do you?" Talia frowned, following him from the elevator.

"I don't believe in 'believing'," House told her, opening the glass door to the consulting room. Sitting there was Foreman, Chase and Cameron.

"Morning," he saluted them casually, Talia following in timidly.

"Who's the chick?" Cameron asked.

"Family member...Talia," House said dismissively.

"Oh?" Foreman raised an eyebrow. "And how are you related may I ask?"

"Does it matter?" Talia asked swiftly, cocking her head to one side. Everyone looked a bit taken aback. House especially, who was impressed. He didn't even feel like he needed to take those DNA tests - this must be his daughter, no doubt about it.

"Patient's scared of blinking," Cameron interrupted as Foreman stared at Talia. "She's having stomach bugs and muscle spasms in her thigh. We've given her antibiotics but no effect yet-"

"She doesn't need antibiotics anymore, she just needs antigens. The antibiotics won't work unless there's something to actually fight off," Talia said quietly, staring at all of them.

"So you're suggesting to inject an illness that she doesn't actually have?" Foreman asked, looking incredibly disbelieving.

"Yeah, if you do that then the antibiotics have to treat everything at once, so you're killing all your demons in one day," Talia said simply, roughing out her curly blonde hair.

"That makes sense," Cameron blinked.

"Sounds good to me!" House pitched in, walking out. Talia smiled slightly as the rest of the team walked out again, Foreman giving her a dirty look, Cameron smiling and Chase not doing anything. What a strange bunch.

"You like her," Cameron told Chase.

"Excuse me?" Chase asked as they walked down the corridor together.

"You kept quiet, you like her," Cameron smirked.

"Shut up," Chase shook his head.

"I don't like her," Foreman burst out with it.

"Why? Because she's just a female version of House?" Cameron laughed slightly.

"That's exactly why," Foreman nodded. "Which means, Chase, you wouldn't be able to get within a mile of her."

"Who said I wanted to?" Chase grumbled, waking ahead. Foreman and Cameron gave each other knowing looks.

Talia was flicking through the large book and saw that there was literally so much information that she wanted to know. She got a degree already, she went to Uni from 16 and was so advanced that she finished in two years. Chase suddenly walked in and when he saw Talia he slowed down slightly. She glanced up. "Hey," she smiled slightly, turning back to the book. Chase swallowed and went to the coffee machine, suddenly dropping the cups. "You alright there?" Talia laughed lightly, turning a page without looking up.

"Y-yeah. Uh do you want one?" Chase offered, starting the coffee machine.

"No thanks, I'm allergic to the granules," Talia declined politely, her eyes fixed on the text.

"Well that's the unfortunate," Chase nodded slowly, before Cameron, Foreman and House all walked/hobbled in.

"Well your antigen idea worked," Foreman began, sitting down opposite Talia.

"Good," Talia shrugged.

"But now she's puking blood," Foreman finished, giving her a knowing look. Talia cocked her head to the side, confused.

"That's a shame," she frowned, going back to the book. "But her original problem is gone?"

"Well yeah," Cameron nodded. "But what is the issue?"

"Mexophilia?" Chase considered, sipping the coffee.

"I don't think so," Talia bit her lip. "It's probably-"

"With all due respect, and I don't have much for you right now, we're the doctors, so could you just?" Foreman snapped. Talia didn't look taken aback at all.

"Fine, but I'm gonna write down what I think it is," she muttered, scribbling something down and folding the paper.

"Have you given her an endoscopy?" House asked.

"She's being prepped for it now," Cameron nodded.

"Do you think it's severe gastro-oesophageal disease?" Chase suggested.

"No, there was literally no hydrochloric acid at all in her vomit," Foreman shrugged.

"But she did say that she was bulimic before this," Cameron reminded then, chewing her pen.

"So..it's just a torn lining in the oesophagus," Foreman concluded.

"There you go. Prepare her for surgery," House told them. Talia rolled her eyes and got up, sliding the paper toward Foreman.

"Open it," she said shortly, before leaving. Even House came round to see what it said  
>'torn lining in the oesophagus'<p>

"She's good," Cameron nodded, as even House looked impressed. Foreman just rolled his eyes and crumpled the paper.

Talia walked up and down the lengths of the hospital, peering through windows of the little wards. She saw Chase in there, talking to a little girl who had cancer and smiled slightly. The little girl, Athena, saw Talia peer through. "Who's that?" Athena asked Chase croakily. Chase glanced up from where he was changing then IV drip and saw Talia looking through the class.

"That's Talia," Chase murmured, turning his attention back to the IV.

"She's pretty," Athena muttered, as Talia walked away. "Really pretty."

"Mmmm," Chase shrugged. Athena frowned.

"Don't you think she's pretty?" she mumbled, looking a bit disappointed. Chase glanced up, confused to where these questions were coming from.

"I mean, yeah, she's very pretty. But what has that got to do with-"

"Will you date her?" Athena asked excitedly. "You two would be so CUTE!"

Chase found himself blushing slightly.

"Thanks, but I've only know her for a few hours," he dismissed quickly.

"So?" Athena blinked innocently.

"So it's too soon and I hardly know her! It's fine, I'll just watch from afar," smirked Chase, desperate to get out of this conversation.

"But will you ask her out one day?" Athena pressured Chase, who began to look very uncomfortable.

"I barely know her name," he sighed heavily. "I don't know anything about her-"

"Dr Chase, I'm going to die soon. So can you promise me that you'll ask her out one day? You look like a prince and she's like a princess," Athena gushed, her eyes sparkling. "Promise?" Dr Chase chewed the inside of his bottom lip and nodded reluctantly.

"Fine. I'm gonna go and take your results okay?" Dr Chase muttered, giving a small smile and then leaving.

"Wait, can I meet her?" Athena perked up eagerly. She was clearly very taken with Talia just from her 'princess looks'. Chase frowned in confusion but nodded anyway.

"Talia?" Chase muttered, walking into the consulting room where Talia sat sipping orange juice and reading a medical mag. She glanced up at the mention of her name in that beautiful Australian accent of his.

"Dr Chase?" she said in the same uncertain tone.

"Um, a patient has required to see you," Chase mumbled. "Athena in room 21."

"The little cancer patient?" Talia blinked, pushing the magazine to one side.

"Yes - and anything she tells you may just be because the medication is kicking in," Chase quickly added, now understanding why Athena wanted her there.

"Gotcha," Talia smiled, heaving herself up and walking to Athena's ward.

**❥HELLO !**

**next chapter coming soon.**

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**i love you all.**


	3. Chapter 3 - First Day Done

Talia stopped outside of room 21, not ready to go in yet due to nerves that she couldn't explain, but Athena had seen her already and waved her in. She walked in. "Hello," she smiled. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine thank you," Athena beamed. "I'm Athena."

"I'm Talia," Talia responded, going to sit down on the chair next to her.

"I know - I saw you through the window when I was speaking to Dr Chase and thought you were really pretty, like a princess." Talia blushed and ducked her head.

"Well thank you ma'am."

"I also think that Dr Chase secretly likes you," Athena began. Talia raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"What? That's a bit random," she laughed awkwardly. "I've only known him for a few hours." Talia shrugged.

"I don't know, but something seems off there," Athena said wisely, as her mum walked in with a bouquet of roses and some other family members. Talia stood up.

"Well thank you for telling me that, Athena," she smiled warmly, kissing the top of her head and walking out.

"What did she say?" Chase asked as he bumped into Talia in the hallway.

"Things," Talia shrugged, giving a nonchalant smile. Chase raised an eyebrow.

"Oh," he muttered. "Um-"

"Oh there you guys are," Cameron murmured. "I was wondering." She was followed in by Foreman and Wilson.

"Well the patients being discharged," Foreman announced. Talia rolled her eyes, still irritated that she didn't get to say her opinion.  
>"Great, I'm glad," she sighed, standing up as House hobbled in, coat on.<p>

"Talia unless you wanna take the late bus I suggest we get going," House announced. Talia nodded and gave everyone a wave.

"Thank you for everything guys," Talia smiled slightly, as everyone waved goodbye and Talia left.

"No thank YOU," Cameron smiled, clearly very taken to Talia.

"Yeah yeah we're all happy, come on Talia," House rolled his eyes, clearly bored. Talia followed him out and they drove home without another word.

"Thanks for today," Talia smiled to her dad, as she got ready for bed. "It was pretty cool seeing what might happen to me." House nodded slowly as Talia gave him a final smile and went to her spare room. House's mobile began to ring and he answered it, still watching Talia from her room who had now found an Autopsy book and was finding it incredibly interesting, her legs crossed on the bed and her large thick black glasses on.

"Yep?" House answered his phone.

"Greg, it's Lisa," came a sharp female voice. House's shoulders dropped, not looking forward to this conversation already.

"What do you want?" he grumbled, leaning against the wall.

"I believe you have my- our daughter with you?" Lisa (who House called Miranda) hinted.

"Oh yeah. Thanks for that stunning revelation by the way," House said angrily.

"Look, I sent her to you out of anger..."

"No, you sent her here out of intoxication," House corrected her slowly.

"I didn't mean to!" Miranda defended herself weakly.

"Aw, yeah. Neither did the vodka," House mocked. He heard Miranda grumble a few profanities.

"Whatever. Like I say, I don't mind if you return her, it must be a bit awkward for her, bless. I have no problem you keeping her - in fact that's where I would prefer her to be." House peeked through the door where he saw his supposed daughter, cross legged on the bed and scribbling down notes from the large autopsy book. She clearly loved the profession and House knew that it would be a matter of cruelty saying that she had to live with her mother.

"Fine," he murmured. There was silence in the air - partly of Miranda and House's shock that he agreed and the other half was the wait for Miranda's verdict. "She can stay here on one condition."

"Yes, anything?" Miranda said quickly.

"You get some goddamn rehabilitation," House hissed, before hanging up. He knocked on Talia's door.

"Yup?" Talia responded. House took this as his cue to enter.

"Did you wanna go back home?" he asked simply.

"No," Talia said automatically. She was prepared for this question and didn't want to mess it up by giving the wrong answer under pressure.

"Fine," House replied just as swiftly, about to leave. Talia blinked.

"Um...'Fine'?" she repeated, wondering if this was a joke.

"Yes, fine. The word 'fine' meaning 'okay'."

"But you're not sending me back home?" Talia asked quietly.

"No, Talia, I'm not," House spelled it out for her. "If you don't want to go back I'm not gonna kidnap you and throw you into a car am I?"  
>"And you've spoken to my mother about this?"<p>

"Sadly yes," House said shortly, before actually leaving the room. Talia smiled to herself and hugged herself excitedly. This should be fun. Then she thought of what Athena told her earlier in the day to do with Dr Chase and she felt her stomach explode into butterflies.

Talia walked into the consulting room with house the next day - much to everyone's surprise. "You're back?" Foreman frowned.

"Apparently so," Talia smiled warmly, looking so genuinely pleased that even Foreman couldn't keep a straight face.

"We got the MRI results back," Chase pointed out to House, almost ignoring Talia's whole existence. House peered at the results.

"It's a lesion," Foreman pointed out.

"And that giant green thing in the middle is an island. I was hoping for something a bit more creative," House muttered. Talia raised an eyebrow and leant back in her chair, watching them work.

"Shouldn't you be consulting the patient before you start diagnosing?" Talia questioned, looking confused.

"I actually agree with Talia," Foreman said slowly, not quite believing it himself.

"Is the patient a doctor?" House asked Foreman.

"No, but-"

"Everybody lies," House said simply.

"Dr. House doesn't like dealing with patients," Cameron whispered to Talia.

"Isn't treating patients why you became doctors?" Talia frowned.

"No, curing illnesses is why we became doctors, treating patients is what makes most doctors miserable."

"So you're trying to eliminate humanity from the medicinal practice?" Foreman scoffed.

"Not trying - succeeding," House corrected him, tapping the MRI with the tip of his pen. "I don't think it's a tumor." As the doctors argued, Chase and Talia exchanged glances and smiled at eachother. Talia ducked her what down a little as he blushed and looked away.

"Chase? What do you think?" Foreman suddenly asked, noticing his lack of concentration.

"Um...Aneurysm, stroke, or some other ischemic syndrome?" Chase guessed, snapping back. Talia giggled to herself and House raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Get her a contrast MRI," House muttered. "And re-draw the blood tests. We need to see exactly what we're dealing with here. I'm going to see Dr. Cuddy." Chase gave Talia another smile before getting up and leaving.

***  
>"I have a vacancy in my 'squad'," House announced, walking into Cuddy's office.<p>

"Oh?" Cuddy raised an eyebrow. "And who are you suggesting take that empty vacancy?"

"Talia," House replied automatically, throwing Cuddy a whole bunch of paperwork neatly stapled together.

"Did Talia agree to this?"

"I spoke about it with her yesterday," House assured her. "It's all done."

"And you've got Talia's parents signatures-"

"One of them," House said slowly. "Just read the papers and give her the job." House left and Cuddy sighed, picking up the papers and shifting through them. Talia's educational background was impressive but that's not what Cuddy was searching for. She found the family details and saw there was only one signature, and one printed name under 'father'.

_'GREGORY HOUSE'_

**hello!**

**Thank you so much for following this story, it means the world.**

**Next chapter next Friday.**

**Please follow my Twitter for updates 'sbtroublesxo'**

**xx**


	4. Chapter 4 - The Kiss & Chase's Regret

Talia opened the glass door and entered Cuddy's office, where she sat at her desk typing. Talia gave a light cough. "Sorry, excuse me, Dr Cuddy? You wanted to see me?" Cuddy glanced up and smiled.

"Hey Talia, come on in." Talia walked into the office. "I just wanted to clarify that Dr. House is in fact your father." Talia sighed and nodded.

"Well he's got a sample of my DNA and we're just waiting for my results but I'm guessing by the fact that he signed under the name 'father' that it's true," she explained quietly, pushing her blonde side fringe back. Cuddy sighed but shrugged it off. She didn't know why she cared so much that House actually had a daughter but she certainly did.

"Your education is extraordinary," Cuddy nodded, going back to the paperwork. "And you will be one of the youngest doctors in America and we will be more than happy to have you." Talia grinned and clapped her hands excitedly.

"Thank you so much," she gasped.

"No problem," Cuddy smiled. "You'll be shadowing Dr Chase." Talia swallowed and looked uncomfortable.

"Oh? I mean...yeah, can't wait."

Talia walked up to Chase who was outside, having some air. She tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around. His eyes lit up when seeing Talia. "Hey," he smiled, turning back around.

"Hi. I just got a placement here and apparently I'm shadowing you," Talia said shyly, tucking that blonde wavy hair behind her ear. Dr Chase nodded slowly.

"Lucky me," he murmured. Talia laughed lightly.

"Don't worry, I'm nothing like House," she assured him. "Even though-" Dr Chase's pager suddenly pierced through the air, beeping rapidly.

"The patient's having a seizure, we have to go," he muttered, already rushing away, Talia running after him.

"Can I ask you a question?" Talia said suddenly as her and Chase walked in a comfortable silence down the corridor after dealing with the patient's seizure. They were the only two people working nights - House had a conference to attend to. The only other people left in the hospital were the night nurses and sleeping patients. It was a quiet one. Chase was getting ready to drop Talia home for the night.

"Shoot it," Chase nodded, taking off his white coat and getting his black leather jacket.

"Do you like me?" Talia asked bluntly. Chase froze.

"I think of you as nothing more than a good work colleague," he began deliberately taking his time.

"Athena told me," Talia interrupted. "And if I'm gonna be working with you I can't have it awkward. We both know what Athena said-"

"I told you not to listen to Athena," Chase grumbled half heartedly.

"It's alright, but I just need to know," Talia stressed. Chase sighed.

"I- I'm...I don't know you that well, only for two days. But yes you are pretty, that's all I said to Athena," he explained anxiously as they left the hospital and began to walk down the dark lamp lit road that gave off an orange glow.

"Yeah okay," Talia mumbled, almost a little disappointed. "Well I just wanted to check."

"Right well you've gotten your explanation," Chase tried to joke but it just came out coldly. They made their way up to House's apartment building and they stopped and faced each other.

"So just to check, you DONT like me?" Talia asked quietly, staring Chase straight in his crystal blue eyes.

"Not in that way," Chase replied, lying through his teeth.

"Are you sure?" Talia pushed.

"Positive," Chase nodded firmly.

"Right, so you wouldn't mind kissing me?" Talia whispered.

"I don't think that would be necessary," Chase mumbled, looking down from Talia's sea green eyes to her perfectly shaped lips.

"Were you ever one to abide by the book?" Talia asked softly.

"I like to think that I edited the book," Chase replied, now smirking.

"Kissing me shouldn't be a problem if you don't feel anything," Talia shrugged bluntly.

"That's a lot of hassle to go through just to make a point," Chase said fairly.

"Just do it, Chase," Talia groaned. Chase sighed and leant in to meet Talia's lips, instantly warning up to her and raising his hands to cup her cheeks so that she could kiss back to the rhythm that he was kissing her. They broke apart after several seconds slowly, avoiding all eye contact as Talia opened the front door and went inside, leaving a sprung and shocked Chase.

Chase walked in to the consulting office quite early before anyone else, starting the coffee machine noisily and thinking back to last night. It was stupid, he only knew Talia for two days and somehow he had kissed her and he liked it, A LOT. One problem being the lack of knowledge about her and another problem being that he never usually put himself out there for someone he had hardly spoken to. Therefore it was awkward. Before Chase could make any conclusions, his phone buzzed from the main table. It was from Talia - even though he hadn't given her his number. It read

'Morning, it's Talia. Sorry about last night - I just needed closure. But now I realise that it would make things more awkward and I hardly know you so...the kiss means nothing and never happened, okay? X {Got your number from House}'

Chase groaned and put the phone in his pocket. He was getting a massive headache just thinking about it. He kind of wanted it to mean something since in his head that kiss felt so right. But he couldn't. He didn't know what to do so he simply didn't reply. He looked up just as Foreman came in with Cameron and Wilson, arguing about something.

"Are you sure?" Cameron was asking Wilson, looking shocked.

"Yes," Wilson insisted. "Cuddy told me today, I saw the paperwork!"

"It makes sense that this is why they are so alike!" Foreman exclaimed, as Cameron nodded slowly.

"But didn't he know she existed? And how is House acting do natural about it?" Cameron frowned, tucking away a loose strand of hair before walking over to the coffee machine.

"I honestly don't know," Wilson shrugged. "But it is pretty cool."

"I guess," Cameron agreed. "And she's beautiful too. Got some great genes." Chase was now sure that they were talking about Talia.

"What are you guys on about?" he asked casually, pretending that he hadn't been eagerly listening.

"Talia is actually Talia House," Cameron said loudly over the whirr of the machine. Chase raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah we know that much, aren't they like cousins or something?" he guessed, now not as interested as he took a sip of coffee.

"Nope," Wilson sighed. "Father and daughter-" Chase snorted and took too much coffee into his mouth which almost went through his nose.

"Excuse me?" he spluttered.

"Talia is his daughter. House filled in the paperwork for her to join the hospital and his name and signature was under 'father'. How bizarre is that?" Wilson replied, shaking his head and looking off into the distance in thought. "I'm just surprised in House's reaction."

"I'm more interested in Chase's reaction," Foreman grinned, sensing that something happened between Talia and Chase for him to react that way.

"It's just a surprise that's all. She's shadowing me for a few months so I've got to work with House's spawn," Chase shrugged it off, pushing his mug away.

"That also means you won't be able to date her at all," Foreman teased

"Yes," Chase agreed much to everyone's surprise, standing up and taking his phone out of his pocket. "It does." As he walked out, he was already typing back to the text:

'Yeah, you're right it was bizarre. Let's just start fresh. :)'

**I am actually so sad House is over. I'm just watching all of them from season 1-8 over and over again ARHEGH they are the best.**

**(Twitter: sbtroublesxo)**


	5. Chapter 5 - The Pen

"Do you think they kissed?" Foreman asked Cameron as he prepared a dosage of antibiotics for their next patient.

"I don't know," Cameron shrugged. "I did think so but Chase is acting too calm."

"Mmmmm," Foreman agreed, placing the needle back in the steriliser and taking off his gloves. Talia knocked on the door, poking her head through. Foreman and Cameron glanced up.

"Sorry, have any of you seen Doctor Chase?" Talia asked quickly.

"Yeah, he's probably waiting for you in the consulting room," Cameron told her, taking off her own gloves and quickly tying back up her thick brunette hair.

"Thanks," Talia smiled, about to leave.

"Wait, Talia," Foreman called after her. Talia poked her head around the doorframe again. "Don't be too surprised if he acts a bit weird today." Talia's heart began to race - did they know?

"W-what?"

"It's alright," Cameron interrupted, much to Foreman's irritation. "We just found out about your true parentage. We know that House is your dad." Talia raised an eyebrow.

"It's amazing how nothing can stay private in this place," she muttered before leaving again. Foreman spun around to face Cameron.

"Why the hell did you tell her that we knew? What if Wilson now gets in trouble for that?"

"I don't know," Cameron hissed, panicking. "I didn't want her to think it was because of Chase just going off of her."

"Let's go," Foreman grumbled, leaving the room and a distressed Cameron.

"Chase," Talia panted, meeting him as he came out of the elevator. He gave her a small smile.

"Morning, I was wondering when you were going to turn up," he responded, now walking down the corridor with her.

"Yeah sorry, da- I mean House wanted to visit a motorbike shop," Talia apologised, taking a hair band out of her back pocket and tying her loose blonde wavy hair into a spiky messy ponytail. Chase turned to her which made Talia stop abruptly.

"I know that House is your father," Chase muttered under his breath, holding Talia's shoulders as he stared into her eyes and tried not to get lost in them again.

"Oh..yeah," Talia groaned, shaking her head and looking away. "Things are totally gonna be weird now aren't they." Chase smiled and proper smile and moved his hands.

"We'll see," he tapped Talia's nose which made her laugh.

"How many people know?" Talia psuddenly frowned.

"Pretty much everyone," Chase winced. Talia rolled her eyes.

"Of course," she muttered. "Of course."

"It's alright," Chase assured her, beginning to walk back. Talia sighed heavily and followed him. House noticed the walk in and he raised an eyebrow again. This was weird.

"I mean, the kiss yesterday was ridiculous, wasn't it?" Talia brought it back up, not thinking. Chase swallowed and forced a nod.

"Yeah, even if we did like each other after a day - that's not really the way to go about it, is it? To have a quick snog on the doorstep," he joked.

"I know, right? What was I thinking? We would have to do it more maturely...like you turn up on my doorstep returning a pen or something that isn't really mine just to see my face again..." Talia began to drift off dreamily. Then she snapped out of it. "Well that's where we'd have to begin."

"Yeah," Chase hummed thoughtfully.

"If you really liked me that is," Talia added quickly.

"Yeah, of course," Chase muttered, indicating the end of the conversation.

Talia was the first person in the apartment, curled up on the sofa and eating noodles. Wilson came in a few minutes afterwards. "Oh, how could I forget, you live here now," he grinned slightly. Talia drew her knees up to her chest as she put her bowl down.

"Yeah, I can hardly believe it myself," she smiled back, pushing some of her loose long dark blonde hair out of her face. "Do you live here too?"

"No," Wilson sighed, taking off his jacket. "Oh no I'm happily married."

"I know," Talia raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "Clearly your marriage is breaking, though." Wilson froze.

"Wha- how?"

"I didn't ask you about your marriage or how it was going. I asked you if you were living here and you told me that you were married and that the marriage was happy. Clearly your marriage is not happy as you told me it was without me asking - meaning you're having problems with your wife and the only way to convince yourself that you weren't going to divorce was if you deemed your problems as 'happy'," Talia explained simply, picking back up her noodle bowl. As Wilson stared at her in either shock or confusion, she heard shuffling from behind her and turned around to see House standing there, a towel around his shoulders.

"Definitely your daughter," Wilson grimaced, nodding his head in Talia's direction.

"You would certainly think that," House muttered, hearing the whole thing. "Or maybe she's just not an idiot." Talia laughed lightly and hastily turned it into a cough as she saw Wilson's scowling face.

"Charming," Wilson hissed. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Must be for you," both House and Wilson said at the same time. Wilson went to answer it anyway, Talia not paying much attention as she went back to her noodles and whatever was on TV.

"Oh, Doctor Chase," Wilson said in surprise. Suddenly, Talia's head snapped up, much to House's interest. Chase was standing there, in his black leather jacket, holding something in his hands.

"Evening. Yeah, sorry, Talia forgot her pen," he explained slowly, holding up a blue biro. Wilson glanced at Talia and saw her smile shyly, slapping her forehead which made Chase smirk.

"Ah, the irony being, Dr Chase - that's not actually my pen," she giggled, swinging her legs over the back of the sofa and standing up. Wilson and House blinked at each other, now confused.

"Really? My bad," Chase groaned mockingly, that smirk never leaving his face. Talia shook her head and rolled her eyes. Chase gave her look that said 'so do you get the message now?'

"Goodnight Dr Chase," Talia nodded, both in bidding farewell and answering his question.

"Goodnight Talia," Dr Chase nodded courteously, before waving to Wilson and House, who both gave him a little nod as he skipped down the steps and back into his car. Talia shut the door behind her and leant on it, before laughing at their faces.

"What's up?" she asked through her laughter.

"What was that?" House asked in disgust. Talia smiled to herself and shrugged.

"You tell me," she yawned, before skipping off to bed. House frowned and turned back to Wilson.

"What was that?" he repeated.

"Young love?" Wilson guessed, shrugging. House squinted his eyes.

"You could say," he mumbled.

So I'm sorry for the lack of posting but what I am shocked about is how much recognition this story is getting. I'm so thrilled and I'm now back to posting regularly. I've also made an Instagram account, calked 'assassininasgard' where I will be posting video edits of the chapters I post to help illustrate them better. Thank you all.


	6. Chapter 6 - House's Verdict

Talia got up the earliest the next morning, her heart still soaring at Chase's 'subtle' hint yesterday. She showered quickly, blow dried her hair and got dressed in her casual jeans and oversized football shirt, then sat in the kitchen with an incredibly milky tea which also had too much sugar in it and waited for House. He hobbled out lazily an hour or two later, still not ready. "You're up early," he said obviously.

"This isn't early," Talia blinked, leaning on the palm of her left hand. "What I'm more concerned about is that I'm on clinic duty at three - meaning there's no one to take you there," House finished, expecting Talia to just roll her eyes and go back to bed. But not to say what she said.

"That's okay, I'll get Dr Chase to give me a ride," Talia replied, her spoon clinking against her mug. House almost choked - on nothing in particular.

"What? You've known this guy for not even a week and yet you're prepared to go all out on him?"

"Yeah you could say that. There a lot of tension between us, House, just because this is actually a relationship and not a prostitute swap as you are usually interested in, doesn't mean it's a ridiculous idea," Talia explained slowly, whilst texting Chase to pick her up. House just grumbled a few profanities before hobbling off back to bed, Talia smiling after him.

"So what are we saying?" Talia pressured Chase.

"I don't know," Chase admitted. "I mean I do like you - but in terms of your dad and his reaction -"

"Won't be a problem," Talia insisted, following Chase to the lab where Cameron and Foreman were already testing something. Chase sighed and glanced at Talia's large hazel eyes.

"Fine," he nodded, giving Talia a quick kiss on the cheek. "But a few dates first okay! I don't even know your full name-"

"Are you guys done with your catch up?" Cameron asked quickly.

"Yeah," Chase snapped himself out of it and went to join them, peering at the test results. "Um what exactly are we testing for?"

"We're not, it's Dan's MRI results - you know the kid with night terrors?" Foreman filled them in, shaking his head at the results. "And there's nothing there..."

"Speaking of night, how was yours?" Cameron asked Talia cheekily aside. Talia raised her eyebrows and couldn't stop herself from blushing.

"Nothing happened," she insisted. "Why? Do people think something's up?"

"There's just so much chemistry," Cameron nudged her. "It's kinda impossible to miss."

"Try telling that to my dad," Talia winced, following the others outside.

"We did a CT, MRI, CBC, Chem-7 and chest x-ray. All the tests came back normal. There's nothing to explain his symptoms," Foreman sighed, pointing at each of the results later on to House in their consulting office. House frowned.

"Okayyy, but let's pretend there's something and go from there. Who sees something on this MRI?" he asked around.

"No lesions, no white matter," Cameron sighed.

"No structural abnormalities," Foreman chewed the inside of his cheek.

"No space occupying tumours," Talia shrugged, leaning on her hands again.

"He's 16, so he should have an absolutely pristine brain. The smallest thing is abnormal..." House hinted.

"Meningeal enhancement. My bet is viral meningitis," Chase suddenly concluded - partly trying to impress House, his new girlfriend's dad.

"Excellent, you see what he did there? He took a small clue that there's a neurological problem and wasn't afraid to run with it!" House exclaimed over-enthusiastically. Chase smiled and nodded, pleased with himself.

"There's no evidence of meningitis on that MRI," Foreman blinked.

"No, there's not, he's completely wrong," House said sharply, causing Chase to scowl.

"Then what clue are you talking about?" Cameron sighed..

"He knew that I saw something on the MRI so he figured there must be something there and took a guess. I'm guessing this is the 'impress her dad' tactic. Clever, but also pathetic," House tutted, causing Talia to groan into her hands and for Foreman and Cameron to raise their eyebrows at Chase as if to say 'oh I knew it.' Chase swallowed and just ignored them.

"So, what did you find?" he asked House irritably.

"Take a close look at the corpus callosum."

"It looks okay," Chase shrugged.

"Are we all looking at the same thing? 200 million interhemispheric nerve fibers, the George Washington Bridge between the left and right side of the brain. It's subtle," House hissed. Talia, Chase, Foreman and Cameron all stared at the MRI, trying to see some sort if difference.

"There's some bowing, there. An upward arch," Chase suddenly blurted, not giving up.

"Are you guessing?" House sighed.

"Yes," Chase admitted.

"Too bad, you're right," House replied, sitting down.

"He probably just moved, nobody stays perfectly still for their entire MRI," Foreman argued.

"Yeah, he probably got restless and shifted one hemisphere of his brain to a more comfortable position," House nodded sarcastically. "Something is pushing on it."

"If there's bowing it could be a tumor?" Foreman suggested.

"Do you see a tumor on this MRI?" Talia challenged him, pointing to a totally clean MRI scan.

"No, but I don't see any bowing, either," Foreman responded deliberately.

"There's no tumor, just a blockage causing pressure, causing symptoms. Today night terrors, tomorrow he's bleeding out of his eyes. Get him a radio-nucleotide cisternogram. I guarantee you'll see a blockage," House ordered them. They all stood up and prepared to leave. "Except you, blondie," House interrupted their movements. Both Talia and Chase froze. "Oh right, the male blondie," House quickly corrected himself. Talia gave Chase a small smile that pretty much said 'good luck' before she left with Cameron and Foreman. Once the door closed, Chase folded his arms.

"What's up?" he asked.

"What's going on between you and Talia?" House asked curiously. Chase gave a heavy sigh.

"Nothing," he lied.

"Right," House nodded quickly. "Well that's fine, I was just checking, you can go now." Chase clicked his teeth and turned around to leave. "Oh apart from one thing - I don't believe you."

"I don't need you to believe me," Chase retaliated. "You might be her dad but you're not mine."

"I don't care you sleep with, I don't care you speak to, I don't care where you get your hair products but if I have a whole few months of you constantly kissing my ass THEN if becomes a problem," House said loudly.

"But what's the problem, I got those answers right didn't I?" Chase pointed out fairly, trying to stay calm.

"Yeah through GUESSING. Before Talia came we didn't have a problem like this - you suggested things from your own brain, not impress daddy notion," House mocked. Chase scoffed, this was ridiculous, it wasn't even a firm point that he was getting yelled at for.

"Okay fine," he muttered. "So what are you saying, you don't want me with Talia?" House batted his eyelashes.

"I don't know, Sherlock, am I?" he whispered.

"Fine," Chase muttered, storming out the room, House staring after him, wondering if that was a good idea.


	7. Chapter 7 - Talia Looses It

Chase walked into Dan's ward where they were doing the tests, looking furious, embarrassed and upset. Talia saw this and bit her lip as she injected Dan's hand with the fluid, to send him to sleep. "Is he okay?" Cameron murmured to Talia as Dan groggily counted back from ten.

"My guess is as good as yours," Talia muttered back, securing the IV with the fabric tape. Chase avoided their eye contact as he watched the machine monitor Dan's brain progress.

"Doing well so far," he said monotonously and clearly, his eyes still fixed on the screen.

"What did he say to you?" Talia asked Chase quietly.

"Nothing worth repeating," Chase dismissed. "Still searching for the night terrors…"

"Chase, what did he say?" Talia pressured.

"Do you mind? I need to get these results accurate," Chase hissed, his eyes still trained on the machine.

"You don't need to monitor anything, because the results get printed, that's when they're clear, Chase, right? So for the last time, and I do really mean the last time, what, did House say?" Talia asked calmly, her voice singed with a hint of anger. Chase looked into her deep green eyes and saw her plea.

"He said I was kissing up to him and he didn't want me with you," Chase finally admitted, turning away from the machine.

"Son of a-"

"He's right, Talia," Chase began.

"Do you honestly thin he's right?" Talia challenged him.

"No," Chase groaned, now confused.

"The he's wrong," Talia said over the beeping of the machine, signalling its completion.

House was in Cuddy's office with Wilson arguing about something or another. Talia didn't even knock, she just burst in. "Are you looking to ruin my life?" Talia shouted at House, making Cuddy and Wilson jump.

"You're gonna have to specify?" House muttered, even though he knew what this was about.

"You know exactly what this is about," Talia hissed, her eyes raging. Wilson blinked.

"Well we don'?" he said loudly.

"Your best friend here told Dr Chase to stay away from me because he didn't like him trying to impress his holy self," Talia told them quickly, turning back to House who was looking at Talia intently.

"House," Cuddy sighed.

"You've gotta stop. I didn't run away from that witch with any intentions, I didn't know what you would be like when she gave me your address, I could have stayed at home, you're a total stranger! But you're not anymore, you're my dad, and it seems to only suit you when you want it to, which needs to stop! A proper relationship doesn't need a diagnosis, it doesn't need 'help', I'm not one of your patients so can you just STOP?" Talia said this all in one breath and when she was done, left the room without another word. House bent his head and studied the carpet in thought as Cuddy and Qilson stared at the closed door, mouths open in shock.

Later that evening, Talia walked down the hallway which was clearing out for the night, her mind a blur. She never got what she wanted with her mum, she was so controlling, so for House to try and take away something that made her happy, was just too much of a case of de ja vu. She wasn't looking where she was going as she was watching her feet, analysing each click! that her shoes made each time it hit the polished squeaky-clean floor. Suddenly, an arm went around her waist and moved her against a wall as a large floor polisher went past the same route that Talia was walking toward. She probably would've heard it but the shock of nearly being soapily pulverised on top of the whole 'Chase' situation could've given her a heart attack, she was panicking so much. She turned to thank her saviour but came face to face with Chase himself, who was studying her with concerned eyes. "Hey, what was that about?" he asked her quietly.

"Thank you," Talia panted shakily, trying to get her heartbeat back to normal.

"It's not a big deal," Chase mumbled. "I wasn't swinging you so much about the cleaner but more about your whole persona, you look awful."

"Aw thanks," Talia nodded sarcastically.

"Why do you look so-" Chase began. But he stopped. "You spoke to House, didn't you?"

"Maybe," Talia sniffed.

"Talia I told you not to bother!" Chase groaned.

"No you didn't," Talia scoffed.

"No, fine, I didn't but I was against it!" Chase admitted, leaning against the wall to face Talia asshe let her curly golden hair loose for a minute. "So…what did you say?"

"Pretty much that he shouldn't be controlling my life," Talia summed it up. Chase nodded, chewing his bottom lip as he waited for the worst of it. But as Talia didn't continue, he looked up at her.

"What, that's it? That's not that bad-"

"Wilson and Cuddy were there," Talia said loudly.

"Oh God," Chase groaned, slamming his head into the wall. "They must have loved that."

"Yeah I realise that now," Talia hissed, before covering her face with her hands. "It was stupid," came her muffled voice.

"Ya think?"

"Chase, help me," Talia mumbled. "What do I even do?"

"Um, apologise?" Chase guessed. Talia suddenly heard steady footsteps accompanied by not so steady footsteps, and she knew exactly who it was.

"They're down the hallway," she whispered to Chase.

"Aren't you working lates tonight?" Chase whispered back.

"Yeah," Talia nodded. "Well of course, I'm shadowing you. Just wait for me here, okay?" Chase nodded in response and kissed her cheek, before she quickly rushed round the corner to come face to face with-

"Oh, it's Little Miss Sunshine," House said brightly.

"I'm sorry," Talia blurted out. "It's just that my mum is the one that always took things away from me and told me what I couldn't do and it's really scaring me because it's just flashbacks and I don't have the guts to tell her otherwise and now I've told you otherwise and I feel awful because Uncle Wilson and Cuddy were there and it must have been embarrassing and-"

"You're talking too much," House interrupted. "And if I'm honest I stopped listening after 'I'm'. But I'm guessing this is an apology, which technically isn't needed but I love all apologies, they make me feel superior. So yes, I forgive you, young mortal." Talia stared at House, purely confused.

"Uhhh…thanks?" she blinked, stepping aside so they could carry on walking. As Wilson and House carried on, Wilson turned to him, also in pure confusion.

"I'm sorry, did she just call me 'Uncle Wilson'?" he hissed, whilst making their way to the car park.

"Yep!" House said brightly.

"That's one step away from Daddy," Wilson told him.

"I hope she's not calling you daddy or I'll be forced to take legal action," House yawned.

"You know what I mean," Wilson grumbled, getting into the car. Talia watched them go and then went back to Chase. She looked so stressed, dazed and relieved at the same time that Chase opened up his arms and Talia automatically fell into them, his arms closing around her as soon as her cheek hit his collarbone.

"Sorted now?" he murmured against her hair.

"Yup," Talia whispered, just wanting to fall asleep in his arms. Chase smiled to himself.

"Well we're working nights today," he told her happily. "So let's get to it!" He let go and so did Talia, who finally looked restored.

"Alright let's do this," she high fived him.

**A/N: I am so sorry these chapters are so long! Anyway, I ship Talia and Chase more than Cameron and Chase, easily.**

**You should follow my Instagram 'assassininasgard' since I will be doing video edits of these chapters to help you visualise them.**

**Next chapter next week, please excuse me as I have my A Levels for the next few weeks.**

**Thank you so much for all that are following because this is the fastest I've ever seen a follower count go, ever!**

**- J**


	8. Chapter 8 - House is Acting Strange

"He's not in here," Chase groaned, peering into the large office.

"Where's he gone?" Talia muttered to herself, her hands on her forehead as she paced up and down, trying to put herself in his position.

"Where's the first place I would visit?"

"Talia there's no time for that! Did you call your dad?"

"Of course I did, he said he's coming," Talia said distractedly. "The kid plays sports, right?"

"Yeah," Chase nodded, now interested. "Why?"

"Where's the first place you would go, somewhere big enough to be a playing field..." Talia's eyes suddenly opened widely. "Chase," she murmured, "check the roof." Chase ran so quickly that Talia blinked a few times before running after him. She met Foreman and Cuddy on the way, her heart racing, and they all burst up to the roof.

"Dan? DAN, you're not on the playing field, you're on the roof!" Chase was shouting. Talia felt her stomach drop. This couldn't end well. Foreman began to move forward but Chase have him the 'not now' sign. Suddenly, Dan took half a step off the roof.  
>"CHASE!" Talia and Cuddy screamed, as Chase tackled him to the floor.<br>….

"Chase could you never do that again," Talia sniffed the next morning, her heart still pounding from the shock as she sipped her tea. Chase gave a small sympathetic smile and kissed Talia's cheek as an apology, whilst House walked in. He saw Chase kiss Talia's cheek and shuddered to himself in mock disgust.

"Has anyone told the family their boy nearly fell off the roof? They must be thrilled," House began, settling himself down on the table.

"They're not suing - but I think that's only because Chase asked them not to," Cameron mumbled.

"Chase saves the day again," Talia smiled to him as he winked at her back. House rolled his eyes.

"Whoop de Doo for the Australian Jesus," he waved it off. "No seriously why does everyone think I'm being sarcastic? The parents must be happy because their son clearly does not have MS! So they should be thrilled, well the mum at least, the dad-"

"I'm sorry why doesn't he have MS?" Foreman interrupted him.

"He was on the roof hallucinating that he was on the field, therefore not a night terror," House explained slowly. "You want some of this?" he asked Chase, hinting to the coffee.

"Sure," Chase frowned, glancing at Talia who just shrugged, not bothered.

"So if it isn't MS then what is it?" Cameron asked curiously, also intrigued by House's good gestures toward Chase.

"Well the oligoclonal bands..." Talia began.

"Were real, but they're not signalling MS, so what else can there be?" House prompted them.

"Well they tell us the immune system is working," Chase attempted.

"Yes, he has an infection in his brain, nice WORK Chase!" House even went in for a high five but put his hand down by the time Chase got over the confusion to actually high five him back. "What, are you all surprised at the 'protective dad tries to be all pally with his daughter's boyfriend' tactic? Because strangely enough, I certainly am and I'm the one carrying out the ordeal. So, to recap, inject him through a lumbar puncture." Chase and Talia looked more baffled but slightly pleased than anyone as they walked out.

Chase gave Dan his treatment a few minutes later, as Cameron and Talia stayed at the head of the bed, one either side of him. It was evident that Dan was in so much pain, so Chase thought of a way to distract him. "Hey Dan," he began. "Isn't Dr Cameron's necklace a beauty? Something South American, if I remember."

"Yeah, Guatemalan," Cameron nodded, before glancing down and seeing where exactly her necklace sat comfortably on her body.

"It's a cool necklace," Dan agreed.

"Thank you so much," Cameron said through gritted teeth.

"The kid's in pain," Chase shrugged nonchalantly.

"But Talia's there, she has a better looking chest than I do," Cameron hissed.

"Yeah but there's one difference between you and Talia," Chase smirked slightly, finishing the treatment.

"Which is what?" Cameron scoffed.

"Talia's taken," Chase raised both his eyebrows as Talia couldn't help but shake her head at this comment, smiling.

"No," Dan suddenly said.

"No what?" Chase frowned.

"Dan?" Talia asked slowly, noticing he wasn't responding and grabbing her small pocket torch, shining them into his eyes but seeing noresponse. "Dan are you alright?"

"Dan?" Cameron called him too. Dan suddenly started shaking violently. "He's hearing voices."

"Dan? Push three milligrams IV, stat!" Chase exclaimed, now rushing about.

"Come on Dan!" Cameron groaned as they attempted to bring him back around.

...

Talia was shattered, anyone with eyes could see that. House saw it, so he sent her home, not listening to anything she tried to say to convince him that she was absolutely fine. When she woke up, House was already out, so she got washed and dressed as soon as she could and left in a hurry, her hair in a high ponytail and yawning along the way. When she got into the office she saw Chase was asleep on a chair and saw House wake him up loudly before she could go and sit on his lap or something. "Nice of you to join us!" House waved to Talia.

"Mmmm I thought so," Talia muttered sleepily, sitting on Chase's lap anyway.

"Really, Talia, there are more than enough chairs in here," House grumbled, getting out his whiteboard pens.

"Leave them!" Cuddy hissed as Chase wrapped his arms around her stomach and comfortably leant on her back as a cushion. "They're clearly in love." This made both Talia and Chase freeze their movements.

"Ummm in love?" Chase spluttered.

"And yet if I did that to you, it would be unprofessional and recorded as harassment," House murmured to Cuddy, taking off the pen lid. "So! Three sick babies, the fourth showing early symptoms."

"How bad?" Talia asked quickly.

"Spiking fever," Chase replied, poking his head out from behind her.

"And the BP is plummeting. If it continues like this they will be dead within a day," Foreman concluded sadly.

"So are the issues in anyway related?" Cuddy asked.

"No, two different delivery and maternity rooms, no common equipment and they are not related," Cameron sighed.

"But there's gotta be a common factor," Cuddy continued. "I'm gonna order a swab test." And with that, she left swiftly out of the door.

"A swab test on the whole hospital?! Does she know how long it will take?" Cameron scoffed.

"Oh I don't even know, she's freaking out cos there are children involved," Foreman shrugged.

"Correction - the hospital is her child and the hospital is sick. That's why she's freaking out. And we needed her out of the room anyway, so, let's continue, differential diagnosis people, let's go!" House clapped his hands.

"Parasite?" Foreman suggested.

"Spreading too quickly," Cameron ruled it out as House wrote it on the board before crossing it out again.

"Next?"

"Virus?" Chase suggested.

"The kids are way too sick," Cameron sighed. Talia felt a little uncomfortable and a little bit ill. She's the one that was uncomfortable speaking about dying children, especially if they were babies, of which she loved and always wanted to have her own.

"You might have to count me out of this one," she said quietly, gently unwrapping Chase's arms from around her and standing up, leaving.  
>House raised an eyebrow and watched her go, then looking at Chase, who looked like he was itching to go after her.<p>

"Wait," House sighed. "We'll start them on Vancomycin for the MRSA and Aztreonam for everything else. Let's get MRIs, check for abcesses or some occult infection." Nobody really moved. "This is when half of you do the job and the other half runs after Talia." Chase got up immediately to attempt to find her, not having to look for long as she was just outside, leaning against a wall.

"Oh there you are," he muttered. "Everything okay?" Talia glanced up and shrugged slightly.

"Sure you could say that," she murmured. "What did House tell you to do for the babies?"

"Start treating them for everything and give them an MRI...I dont suppose that you wanted to do it with me?" Chase suggested tenderly. Talia sniffed and looked away.

"Yeah, maybe next time," she whispered, leaving Chase standing there, more confused than ever.

A/N: HELLO

I am so sorry that I haven't written in so long, my exams took over and I started my final year at school before university so everything was so crazy but I am back for good now, I promise! Aww thank you so much for sticking by this story, I appreciate it so much.

J xx


	9. Chapter 9 - Death

House met Chase as he came back with the MRI results. "Did you find out what was wrong?" he asked automatically.

"Well no - the scans reveal-"

"I mean about Talia," House interrupted quickly. Chase raised his eyebrows at his concern but then quickly shook his head in response.

"No, she was even more cold to me outside of the office," he admitted. "I have no idea what her problem is."

"I'm saying false pregnancy," House suggested, hobbling to his office.

"What? But we haven't-"

"Not with you, moron. I mean before. This must be some sort of trigger for her," House spelt it out for him. Chase nodded slowly.

"Right. So anyway, what are we gonna do on the babies?" he asked him as they stepped in to see Foreman and Cameron there already, Talia by herself on the other side of the room, silent.

"Their kidneys are shutting down," Cameron began.

"And their kidneys are showing no casts," Chase added in, glancing up at Talia who was studying the dark blue carpet in great detail.

"Meaning the antibiotics did it," Foreman concluded. "Great well which one did it? We can take them off- don't tell me they both can cause this?"

"Yes they both can cause this and there's no way of telling which one did it. No test," Chase told him firmly, turning to House who he saw had a suspicious look on him. "So we take our best guess then." House took a deep breath in through his nose.

"Well I said this before. It's MRSA in hospitals so take them off Aztreonam," Foreman muttered.

"No I still think that we should take them off vancomycin," Cameron inputted, her eyes wide.

"Well there's no point in guessing," House sighed. "Take one kid off one and open off the other." Talia gasped.

"Are you serious?" she snapped, the first thing she had said all day.

"Hang on they have the same disease but you want to give them different treatment?" Chase scoffed.

"Are you insane? What the hell are you doing?" Foreman asked furiously.

"Therapeutic trial to find the cause of infection of course," House said obviously.

"House, no! That's so morally wrong it makes me slightly sick!" Talia shouted. "You're just condemning one child to their death so the other can live? THEY ARE BABIES! Are you really willing to kill them both?" There was a large pause.

"I guess I am," House finally concluded, before walking out. Talia actually felt so sick that she had to cover her mouth with her hand, hopping off the kitchenette counter and leaving the room again, pushing those strands of blonde curly hair back. This time Chase had to go after her and find out what had happened.

"Talia, hun," he began, which made Talia spin around. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing Chase, I'm fine," she assured him, before turning back around and rushing out of the hospital's grounds.

"Talia!" Chase called after her, and Talia stopped again, her hands in her hair in distress and her jaw shaking so hard, it looked like she was holding back something.

"Chase I don't want to discuss it," she whispered shakily.

"I know," Chase replied, giving her a hug and gently steering her back into the hospital. "You've gotta stay with me here Talia. I know this is when our job sucks but we have to do it." Talia sucked up the tears and emotion and nodded in agreement.

"Yes okay. Let's go the NICU," she cleared her throat, already marching down there, somewhat determined. Chase groaned and rushed after her, but when he got there he saw that she had been stopped by the baby's parents and so he carried on and walked in.

"Is she any better?" the mother, who's name was Karen, asked.

"Well as far as I know her fever has been stable for the last hour," Talia told her comfortingly, as she heard Chase say that earlier.

"We're not gonna make it, are we?" Karen whispered gently.

"Sorry?" Talia choked slightly. Before she could explain, there was beeping coming from the unit and Talia looked over and saw there was a lot of bustle. She rushed inside and saw Chase injecting the baby with something as the nurses kept frantically checking for a pulse. Karen walked in after Talia.

"Is my baby dying?" she cried, her hand on her chest.

"Mrs Hartig," Chase began, a little distracted. Talia just watched on in horror, rooted to the spot as the nurse attempted to push Karen out of the room. "It's not your baby!" Talia felt faint as Chase tried everything in his power to get the heart rate back up and vaguely heard House, Cameron and Foreman behind the glass and then walk in with Wilson.

"Come on Chase, save her," Talia whispered under her breath, which Chase heard and automatically was put under more pressure.

"Still dropping," Chase muttered.

"We're loosing pulse!" Cameron exclaimed. "V fib."

"Shut the blinds," Wilson demanded, as he prepared the defibrillator.

"Come on," Talia said weakly, clutching her stomach now.

"Charging...CLEAR!" Chase announced as he attempted to restart the pulse. Nothing happened and Talia let out a dry sob as House stated at her. "Charging...CLEAR! Charging...CLEAR!" Nothing.

"Chase," House said somewhat gently. "Time of death...6:57pm." There was a long pause in which was filled with Talia sniffing up those tears, into her red eyes and the staff glancing at eachother. "The Aztreonam doesn't work. Double-cover all the other babies with vancomycin."

"I'll do it," Chase said quietly but firmly, leaving the room without saying anything to or even looking at a distressed and distraught Talia.

"Cameron, you tell the parents that their baby probably saved around five other baby's lives," House ordered quietly.

"I...I'll do it," Talia offered.

"Yeah because you're in the position to do that," House declined. "Cameron, go." Cameron left with Wilson, as Foreman told the nurses the time and cause of death. House walked out of the unit, Talia drying her eyes and following him as they walked down the polished floor.

"What was all that about?" House suddenly asked her. "You know if you do that for every patient we have your time here is going to go very slowly."

"Well I hardly want it to fly by," Talia sniffed, her eyes still raw red.

"Yes but you've missed the point. Why did you freak out? Why were you so angry at the diagnosis, what's happened to you to make you like this-"

"Wow you've got all the questions today!" Talia exclaimed. House looked at her and she gave up the act. "Miscarriage."

"Damn, should've guessed that," House muttered, as it all began to make sense now. "You're too young are you not."

"I'm 23," Talia blinked. "That's hardly puberty."

"You're 23 but if you were still romantically linked with anyone you wouldn't be here which means the baby was conceived at a younger age," House said under his breath. Talia let out a sigh and covered her face.

"I used to find it cool when you did that, now I just find it annoying," she told him.

"Most people do," House waved it off. "So what, 16?"

"17," Talia caved in. But House wasn't done.

"And the fact that you were clearly trying to forget it means that it was a bad experience...rape?" Talia bit down on her jaw and attempted to keep a straight face and not show any signs of tears.

"It wasn't rape," she said carefully. "It was just unpleasant."

"Have you told Dr Chase this?" House suggested bluntly. "Cos he has no idea why you're being so cold."

"He doesn't really care, if he did he would've continued to pressure me until I gave him an answer but no, he asked me once and I said nothing so he left me to it," Talia hissed, taking off her doctors coat and giving it to a nurse passing by. "And he just let that baby die."

"He tried his best," House began, even though sticking up for people, least of all Chase, wasn't an everyday thing for him.

"His best cost him a life."

"But it wasn't down to him! It was the medication," House continued, getting louder.

"Ah yes, the medication that you kept the baby on!" Talia finally reached her conclusion. "If we listened to Foreman instead of Cameron perhaps there would be two breathing babies there, two relieved families instead of just one!"

"Talia you can't blame people for what happens in a hospital!"

"As long as they're in the hospital's care, you can," Talia said quietly, walking into the coat room and taking her jacket and her bag, shoving them on. "Because that's why doctors exist, right?" House watched her in silence.

"Where are you going? Your hours aren't done yet."

"Take me off the case," Talia told him lowly. "Take me off and bring me in on the next one."

"Talia you can't so this every single time-" Talia just rolled her eyes, zipped up her coat and walked outside in the cold, dark, heavy rain without another word.

**HELLO**

**I love writing this story so much and your reviews just motivate me more, they really do! I've never gained followers so quickly as I have with this story. Thank you so much for your support. Things are only just starting. Also I did some research and yes the youngest doctor in the world was 18 (she was in the UK) but I've made Talia 23 now so I hope that makes it a little more realistic. **

**- J xx**


	10. Chapter 10 - Unexplained Anger

Talia was true to her word and didn't return to work until the case was over, which was in two days. She spent most of her time by herself in her room, remembering everything about that horrific night and thinking about the profession of doctors on a whole. Perhaps it isn't the profession for all after all, perhaps she just should have been a model. It's only when Cuddy called her to say that the case was over that she actually came back, because Cuddy completely understood Talia's decision not to be on the case. So when Talia walked into the team's office and when they all saw her there, the reactions were mixed. House was living with her so he wasn't fazed, Cameron smiled at her warmly, Foreman nodded politely and Chase did nothing, just like the first time she walked in. Talia smiled back at Cameron, gave Foreman a friendly nod back and since Chase did nothing to her, neither did she. Why should she? "So, to recap, I didn't screw up. Start the sister on prednisone and order a CT chest scan," House continued the conversation whilst stirring his coffee.

"Sister?" Chase suddenly popped up.

"Oh, right I forgot to mention, the patient's a nun. Sister Augustine."

"Ugh, I hate nuns," Chase groaned. House paused and thought for a little.

"Yeah, who doesn't?" Talia got up alongside the rest of the group and walked behind them as they went into Sister Augustine's office.

"How are you feeling?" Cameron asked quietly. Talia shrugged slightly, running her hands through her long blonde wavy hair.

"I'm okay now, I guess. Thank you, though…how were the other two babies?"

"So much better, they went home safe and sound," Cameron assured her, giving her a warm smile which made Talia warm up instantly.

"Great…"

"Is everything okay with you and Chase?" Cameron whispered suddenly. Talia stopped walking abruptly.

"Why? What has he said?"

"Well we asked him how it was going and he didn't reply, he just stormed off," Cameron hissed, before walking into the ward with the others. Talia walked in to see the nuns watching some form of teen beach movie, their mouths wide open.

"Sisters?" Cameron said tenderly. Sister Puis, the head nun, turned as soon as humanely possible as if she had been caught doing something bad.

"We weren't watching" We…we were trying to see which one is the bed remote!"

"Oh, um, this one is the bed remote," Talia smiled slightly, passing them a small white remote. Sister Pius smiled thankfully and turned off the television.

"I'm Dr Cameron, that's Dr Talia, that's Dr Chase and that's Dr Foreman," Cameron introduced themselves. "We're going to take care of you."

"I haven't watched television in over twenty years," Sister Augustine said wistfully.

"Do you consider it the work of the Devil or do you just not get cable where you live?" Chase muttered bitterly. There was a short stunned silence after this comment.

"Chase!" Talia hissed. Chase didn't even look up at her. She was slowly getting sick of this.

"Um…how are you feeling, Sister?" Foreman asked loudly before Chase and Talia ended up killing each other.

"A little better, they gave me some medication," Sister Augustine answered quietly.

"Prednisone," Foreman nodded. "It's a steroid to help with the inflammation."

"Has Dr House figured out what's wrong with me?" she asked worriedly.

"Not yet – we'll put you in a CT scan later on to help diagnose you," Talia assured her warmly.

"So he's treating her with no idea on what she has?" Sister Puis frowned. "Shouldn't we have someone similar to House in here, on site? If not him, someone close."

"Faith, Sister Puis, we have faith," Sister Augustine reminded her.

"Alongside that, you have his very own daughter with you onsite," Foreman smirked, nodding his head in Talia's direction, who gave a small shy wave.

"Oh! You're the daughter of the man himself! Well that's calmed my nerves, he seemed to work in a very specific way," Sister Augustine's eyes sparkled slightly.

"Trust me, they're exactly the same, almost identical," Dr Chase smiled falsely, gaining a look from Talia and for Foreman and Cameron to wince uncomfortable. As soon as they got outside again, they let it rip.

"What's been going on with you?" Talia snapped.

"Me?! Oh I'm sorry, the last time I checked I didn't take two days out of work because of some babies dying!" Chase hissed back.

"Some babies? Chase! I think they were slightly more than that, he was an actual life! You can't ever compare the two!"

"The baby had to die so five others could live!" Chase yelped as they turned a corner to where House, Wilson and Cuddy were in an argument of their own.

"One argument at a time please!" Cuddy interrupted them both.

"Oh don't worry this will be done soon," Chase assured them, getting seriously irritated.

"You're so sick," Talia muttered, going pale.

"Then it's a damn good thing we're in a hospital, isn't it?" Chase hissed.

"I don't know, I'd be too worried that you failed to save my life," Talia spat, turning around and storming through the halls. Chase stared after her and groaned.

"Why is she life this?" he asked them all.

"Hey, I don't know I'm not involved," House held up his hands. "But if this is still about the baby thing, perhaps you should talk to her about it." Chase sighed and leant against the wall, now so confused and hurt that he didn't know what to say. House was bored of this now.

A few hours later, Chase was taking Sister Augustine's pulse when House paged him with the words 'call mom!' Chase was confused and excused himself from her, rushing down the hall until he skidded into House's office. In there was Talia, flicking through a magazine and House playing with a yo-yo. "My mother's been dead for 10 years," Chase frowned, a little put off by his girlfriend's presence but continued all the same. Talia looked up when he said this – she didn't know that. Chase looked at her as if to say 'yeah well now you know'.

"But she's always with you in spirit," House sighed. "So, what do you know about the nun?"

"Which one?" Chase asked.

"The cute one – I think she likes me. Well, can you blame her? I mean look at me." Talia smiled slightly at this comment.

"Her parents died when she was younger and then she was raised in a monastery, loving God ever since," Chase shrugged.

"What is she lying about?" House asked him.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well you know nuns, I guessed you of all people would be able to tell me," House explained slowly.

"I don't know nuns," Chase refused.

"You hate nuns – you can't hate someone you don't know."

"I've never met a Nazi – by that principle I should have them all in my kitchen for dinner and know their life stories. If the sister has a secret, the only person that would know is the head nun." Talia sighed heavily as Chase walked back out, his head low.

"Do you get what I'm saying now?" Talia turned to her father.

"Mmmmm…yeah well I tried. Well, one American girl brought up in England that hates dying babies and her Australian boyfriend who hates living nuns…that's a fabulous relationship," House yawned, kicking his feet up on the desk and closing his eyes for a nap.

**A/N: HELLO**

**I can't believe I've only written into three episodes of House, feels like I've been writing forever. Your support keeps me going, it always will, I'm surprised how quickly people have followed my story but thank you all, I appreciate it. Next chapter is next Friday.**

**- J xx**


	11. Chapter 11 - Honesty

Talia was walking past the clean room, when she saw Chase in there with Sister Augustine. She couldn't go in but she was able to hear what he was saying thanks to the microphone vents. They were praying together - Chase was then explaining how he was in a monastery and he believed he had failed God due to what his father wanted and what he wanted. Talia understood his issue with nuns now - they brought back everything he wanted to forget, just like the babies in her case. Suddenly, Chase rushed onto the window and knocked on the glass.

"Can we have some help in here?! She's going into respiratory distress!" he shouted. Talia turned around and alerted Foreman and Cameron before the glass door opened and they attempted to suit up. "Seriously! She's dying get in here, forget the procedure!" They ran in anyway.

"We have to intubate," Talia muttered, slowly putting the tube down the sister's throat. "I'm in." Chase pumped the air in.

"How did that happen when she's in a damn clean room?" Foreman asked, confused.

…

"Dr Chase, can I talk to you, for a second?" Cuddy called Chase into her office. Chase frowned slightly but came in anyway.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I just wanted to know what's going on with you and Talia," Cuddy told him simply, sitting behind her desk again. Chase couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly at this.

"There is just no privacy in this hospital, is there?" he muttered, but sighed afterwards. "I don't know what's going on. I haven't spoken to her about it."

"Maybe that's what's going on," Cuddy shrugged, her thick black hair bouncing on her shoulders. "Just a lack of communication."

"In all seriousness, we've only been together for around a week. I haven't even kissed her yet. I mean, it's just a rough patch, I guess," Chase began. "Yet for some reason I feel like all I've been getting from people is marriage counselling. Alone." Cuddy smiled at this, understanding.

"The only reason everyone cares so much is one, it feels like we're in a soap opera, two, because we don't want this to affect your work," she finally explained. "We love you and Talia together. It clearly ticks house off and anything that manages to annoy that man is okay with me!" Chase laughed at this, the first laugh he had done in ages. Cuddy gave him a nod implying that he could go, but when Chase turned around, something made him want to turn back around again, so he did.

"But…if I were to get some form of counselling," he said quietly. "What do I do?" Cuddy raised her eyebrows.

"Well – given that you have no idea what's wrong with her, perhaps you should ask her first. If she honestly doesn't tell you, just go to her dad. House always seems to guess what's wrong because he is all so powerful," she advised him, which allowed Chase to nod at this.

….

Talia was sitting in the chapel, tired. She had no idea why she felt so rubbish today but she did. The chapel was peaceful and silent until she heard the door quietly creak open and she felt a presence next to her allowing her to realise Chase just came in. "Do you always come in here?" he asked her quietly. Talia smiled to herself after hearing his voice again, but this time not raised over five billion decibels.

"I try to," she answered. "Sometimes I need God."

"Same," Chase nodded slowly. "Same."

"I'm just tired, Chase," Talia admitted, holding her head in her hands and she hated herself as she felt her eyes welling up with tears.

"Tee," Chase began, his voice now soft. "What's going on? I don't mean with the baby thing...I mean with us." Talia shook her head, the tears now officially there.

"It was the baby thing that started this. Chase, when I was younger I has a really unfortunate situation and I got pregnant - at first I didn't want the baby but after that I did. I began buying the baby stuff and even my mum was excited but..." Talia was now crying fully, Chase feeling even worse as he brought her close to him, one arm around her and her face buried in his chest. "The baby died but I had to give birth to her and-" Chase shook his head, not able to hear anymore.

"Don't...Talia I'm so sorry...this is why I needed you to tell me this beforehand..." he whispered, rubbing her arms, both of his arms around her this time.

"But Chase then you ignored me and I don't get why?" Talia sniffed, not moving her head, relieved that this was now getting sorted.

"B-because I felt bad. I felt like I let you down...you were trusting me to save the baby and I couldn't and I know it wasn't my fault but..." Chase broke off. Talia gasped.

"Oh Chase no I'm sorry I didn't-"

"No stop, it's not your fault..." Chase shook his head quickly. "I'm the one that's sorry. If I went through what you did I would be in the same position so please, don't. Obviously you have to know, that things get complicated in hospitals, you have to get used to death, I'm afraid." Talia groaned and huddled deeper into his chest as Chase stroked her back in large circles.

"I know. It's usually just babies that I have something against but anyway…next time we should tell each other," Talia decided, now very comfortable in his arms. Chase looked her straight in the eye and gently placed a finger under her chin, lifting her face, tilting it up slightly.

"I'm sorry," Chase repeated softly, honestly meaning it. Talia smiled, even though it was rather watery.

"So am I," she whispered as Chase came closer and eventually, met her lips for a soft but almost passionate kiss. They broke apart and leant their foreheads against each other's, laughing quietly at themselves grinning like idiots, Chase's hands still tangled in Talia's hair. "You know that was our first kiss as an official couple, right?" Talia asked dreamily. "And it was in a chapel…ironic."

"I am well aware," Chase murmured, his lips barely moving as he leant in again. Suddenly, his pager went off and he groaned. "That would be your father."

"Might as well go and see what he wants." Talia stood up and Chase did too, following her out as they bumped straight into Wilson.

"Wow, you two look happy," he began.

"We are," Talia smiled at Chase, who smirked at her and shook his head.

"Brilliant - um I think House was trying to get hold of you, Chase - the nuns are in fact gone," Wilson informed him, as Chase raised his eyebrows.

"Why would House have to specifically tell me that?" he asked.

"Don't ask me," Wilson held up his hands.

"House believes that you have something against them, remember?" Talia gently reminded him. Chase suddenly nodded.

"Right," he muttered. "Well that's nice of him." Wilson nodded and checked his own pager, politely excusing himself to leave. Chase turned to Talia.

"We have to go," he sighed, flicking Talia's hair from her eyes.

"I know - I don't really want to though," Talia mumbled. Chase grinned and gently pushed her forward to start her walking. They made their way into the dimly lit office that House was in, throwing his ball against the wall.

"Oh there's the lovebirds," House yawned, stretching slightly. "I take it that everything's sorted?"

"Yes," Talia sighed heavily.

"Well, Talia, you better get ready to show Chase off," House nodded quickly.

"To who?" Chase blinked quickly.

"To her mother," House stared them both in the eye. Talia choked on the oxygen she was currently breathing.

"Come again?"

"Your mother, is a patient, in this hospital – and we have her case."

**A/N: HELLO**

**Can I just say your reviews make me so happy, I love you all loads, I get so happy when I see such lovely comments. You're wonderful people.**

**Next chapter next Friday.**

**- J xx**


	12. Chapter 12 - Mother and Father

Talia let out a cough once House said this. "E-excuse me? You are joking me aren't you?"

"I only wish I was," House sighed heavily. "But hey. The woman is obsessed with drinking. Are we surprised?"

"I'm guessing this is a bad thing?" Chase guessed, studying their faces as he picked up the case file and flicked through it.

"Do you know what my mother's like? Of course this is a bad thing," Talia groaned. "Out of all of the hospitals why would she choose to bring herself into this one?"

"Actually, her son brought her here," Chase announced, turning the documents around so that they could see it. "A kid called Luke."

"Oh it gets better!" Talia exclaimed. "For gods sake! Why is this happening? More to the point, House, why did you choose this case?"

"Her name is under 'Lucy' now, I just found the case cool," House shrugged slightly, honestly not appearing to be that bothered.

"And what, may I ask, is wrong with our dear angel?" Talia sighed, peering over Chase's folder.

"Read the file," House told her, already leaving the room. Then he stopped and popped his head through the door. "Actually, come with me. We're about to embark on a magical journey of love and family reunion." Chase grinned at this which gained him a whack in the shoulder from Talia before she scurried after her dad, leaving Chase there, confused as usual.

House opened the sliding glass doors with his cane before waltzing into the ward. Luke looked up. "Oh, ma, this is Doctor-"

"House?" Miranda gasped. She glanced behind him and saw Talia leaning against the back wall. "Oh dear God no."

"Gregory House," he corrected her.

"Why are we in this hospital?" Miranda suddenly snapped at her son, bringing back memories of her own childhood. Luke jumped slightly at this and Talia put herself clearly in their eyesight.

"Well you haven't changed," she told her mother sadly. Luke's eyes widened at the sight of his older sister.

"Talia? W-what's going on?" he asked in confusion.

"Hey kid, do you think we could have a word with your mother in private?" House suggested. Luke looked dubious.

"You might need me for-"

"No 'doctor', it's all good. I've got the notes. There's actually a cafeteria downstairs - here's ten, get whatever you want as long as there's enough money for a Mexican Heat sandwhich, dry, hold the pickles and the fries and a diet- no a regular coke, should be $5.80 tax included. We'll page you when it's done." House ripped his pager off his belt and chucked it to Luke, who caught it and ran off.

"No pickles," Miranda shook her head.

"Nice kid," House mused.

"Yes. That's the main reason that I know he's definitely not yours," Miranda spat. Talia let out a small laugh at this, absolutely disgusted at this comment.

"Tell me about the meds," House got straight to the point. Miranda shut her eyes.

"Baseball! I like baseball!" she nodded quickly, her mood changing already.

"No you don't," House frowned, at the same time as Talia said "no she doesn't."

"My boy and me, we went to see a game," Miranda began, her eyes still closed.

"Not 'mets', meds as in medicine. I take it you have what he tells you to have," House sighed, as Talia joined him at her bedside.

"No one believes me," Miranda mumbled.

"I do," House muttered. "Amazingly, I do." Talia had to get some air, she didn't even want to see her parents get this close again. Part of her believed that the spark was still there between them and that made her feel slightly nauseated so she left the room. There stood Foreman, Chase and Wilson.

"How's mum?" Chase smirked at his girlfriend. Talia gave him the one fingered salute and pushed her lengthy wavy blonde hair back from sticking to her forehead.

"Talia," Cameron hissed, looking over her shoulder to make sure no one saw her. "You can't do that-"

"I don't care," she interrupted her loudly, giving another salute but this time in Cameron's direction. "Anyway, to answer your question...She's weird. She's not telling the truth, she's dazed and she's really snappy," Talia informed them quietly. With that, House came it and joined the other doctors.

"Did you get anything from this human encounter?" Foreman asked House sceptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Well yeah. First of all, the mets suck. Secondly, she hasn't shaved her legs in two months. Because of the tremors...she cuts herself," House concluded.

"The tremors aren't new. She must have always cut herself," Chase frowned.

"Exactly, so something changed in the last two months - well apart from her wonderful daughter leaving her, alone," House gave a sad sigh.

"Um it's hardly even been two weeks," Talia waved him off.

"Right, right, I was hoping you weren't gonna remember that. Anyway I suspect the problem comes from the blood loss from cutting so, collect and send for clotting studies, blood studies the whole shabang," House told them. As soon as he said this, Luke came up to him with his sandwich.

"Here's the stuff...it's cold now," Luke muttered apologetically.

"If that's the Mexican, that's how he likes it," Cameron smiled.

"Everyone, this is Luke, Talia's brother," House did a quick intro.

"I'm Allison Cameron-"

"Uh huh, that's great, okay we have no time for that. Luke, give us another hour with your mum?" House asked the boy. Luke nodded. "You should go and have a reunion with your sister that sounds like fun." Talia stared at House, who was smirking, in disbelief before nodding.

"Come on Luke, we'll go and get some Ice cream or something," she held out her arm and Luke took it as they walked out. Walking down to the ice cream parlour in silence wasn't fun.

"Why did you leave?" Luke suddenly asked. "You left me with her."

"You're doing well," Talia told him firmly. "Better than I could've done, by far." Luke sniffed. Talia sighed, now feeling guilty. She didn't know what she would do if it were just her. "I'm sorry," she muttered, stopping her footsteps and kneeling down do she was Luke's height, looking into his eyes. Luke gulped and nodded.

"Is she better now?" she whispered. Luke shrugged.

"I guess," he said quietly. "Okay no she's not but what can I say. She's my mother, and I love her. She says some medication changes her soul, like Haldol and stuff." Talia let out a huff as her phone went off in her pocket and she answered it. It was Chase.

"Babe?" he began, his voice on edge.

"Yeah?"

"Your mum may have just attacked Foreman," Chase said slowly. Talia turned to Luke in shock.

"Luke, the ice cream may have to wait," she told her brother, before getting up and dragging him with her.

…

"You drugged her!" Luke shouted to House when they got back in the hospital.

"Actually I've taken her off all medication," House clarified. Talia stood next to Luke, saying nothing.

"Your guy, Foreman, gave her Haldol!" Luke continued.

"He did what?" House blinked. Then he shook his head. "As fascinating as the conversation is, I have to go, so can I go now, boss?" House walked away and Talia ran after him, leaving Luke to see his mother.

"House, please tell me that Foreman didn't really give her that," she panted.

"Does it matter?" House asked her quickly, going into his office.

"He says she claims that it changes her soul," Talia whispered. House rolls his eyes.

"Two things your mother was - a compulsive liar and an alcoholic - she could also make a mean casserole," he pointed out, going to his whiteboard.

"What's your point?" Talia furrowed her blonde eyebrows together, completely baffled.

"Go to the house with Foreman and Chase. There's gotta be some leads there that tell us what's making little Miss Muffett not want her curds and whey." Talia blinked at this.

"Your analogies are becoming worse," she shook her head. House moved his head slightly in agreement and Talia went off to find the boys.

...

"I don't suppose you have a key for the house?" Chase asked his girlfriend as he and Foreman tried to break the lock on the door of Miranda's house. Talia sighed and pulled a key out of her pocket, opening the door and stepping in.

"Looks like Luke sleeps in the living room," he frowned. Talia felt sick as she remembered her life there.

"So Talia, your parents lived together here?" Foreman asked as he scraped some mould off the edge of the fridge.

"No, just my mum, me and Luke," Talia answered, going into her old room which clearly had turned into a wine cellar. She slammed the door shut in anger.

"Why didn't House stay?" Chase asked curiously. Talia closed her eyes for a second and then turned around.

"Because they had a one night stand. They were never really together, although they tried to be. I was an accident," she mumbled. Chase an Foreman raised their eyebrows but said nothing. Chase checked around the stove and saw there was a calendar there, with today's date circled in thick black pen.

"Here's something interesting," he called the other two over. "Guess who's birthday it is today?" Foreman peered over Chase's shoulder.

"House?" he said in confusion.

"So your mother, who sent you to House, miraculously turned out at the same hospital he works in on his birthday?" Chase turned to Talia, his clear blue eyes amused.

"It's a bit creepier when you hear how my parents actually met," Talia whispered, staring at the calendar.

"Why? How did they meet?" Foreman asked hesitantly.

"My mum came into a hospital, House was working there, he took her case and it was his birthday."

**A/N: Hello!  
>Thank you for all of your support, I know I keep saying it but I couldn't say it enough if I tried.<strong>

**To the very observant reader who noticed that Talia's eye colour changes yes, I was almost praying that no one would pick that out because it's crucial for an upcoming plot line in the next few chapters, there is a reason for it, I'm not just lazy with my writing haha. But thanks anyway. You're good, I give you props.**

**Lots of love,**

**J x**


	13. Chapter 13 - Uncomfortable

"That's a little dark on so many different levels," Chase mumbled, taking a few steps back before turning back around to look around the rest of the house.

"She's insane," Talia said lowly, catching her reflection in the hallway mirror and fixing her hair. She stared at herself and in the corner of her eye, she thought she saw one of her pupils get larger than the other. What colour were her eyes today? She gulped, shivering slightly. Talia didn't want it to look like she was suspicious of her own reflection as she usually was to the other boys, so she styled it out so that it looked like she was just being vain, pouting and whatnot. Foreman rolled his eyes at this.

"The apple never falls far from the tree," he said quietly, raising both of his eyebrows.

"Oh, trust me, I'm about the stamp on your apples, Foreman," Talia hissed.

"That didn't even make sense," Foreman smirked mischievously, which made Chase laugh outright. However when Talia spun around and shot him daggers, he quickly shut up and gave an awkward cough, going into the freezer. He let out a small whistle and pulled something out of it, the sounds of the ice scraping alongside the cardboard breaking the silence of suspense.

"T, what did you eat when you lived here?" Chase asked curiously. Talia and Foreman frowned at him, trying to see the relevance.

"Not much, she can't cook and when she did, I either came down with food poisoning or salmonella," Talia crossed her arms. Chase finally turned around to face them with the box of frozen burgers, then nudging to the freezer where at least twenty more packs stood firm. There was another silence that Talia broke. "I know that this is the bit where we all look at each other and finally conclude something," she began slowly. "But I don't see what relevance this could possibly have to anything."

"Nope," Chase sighed, concealing some of the burgers in the clear plastic bag. "But your father will."

Once the team arrived back to the hospital, House was way ahead of them, treating Miranda for another common virus that she had made out to be worse than it was by refusing to take her schizophrenia medication. As she was already under House's care, the hospital had no choice but to keep her there for another few nights, much to Talia's dismay. He shoved them straight onto another case, in which a teenage boy had been admitted after passing out dramatically in an exam. He sent both Talia and Chase to question him.

"Matt," Talia began, finding a new page on her clipboard. "Did you take any drugs this morning?"

"You're hot," was Matt's only strained incoherent reply. Chase froze at this, clenching his jaw and Talia let out a small laugh, which she covered with the sound of her rustling her papers. His mother looked less than pleased.

"Matt, can you squeeze my fingers for me? Did anyone give you anything this morning? Matt?" Chase persisted, his tone a little more straight forward and to the point. Talia noticed this change in his tone and locked her eyes with his for a split second, hers playful and his deadly serious and slightly irritated.

"I told you, he doesn't do drugs," his mother was stressing.

"Ms Davis, all parents think that about their kids. I gave my parents a little trouble when I was his age and I turned out okay," Chase tried to console her.

"You did?" Talia raised both of her eyebrows, looking up from the clip board she was scribbling notes on. Her expression was a little more difficult to read. Ms Davis' however, was not.

"I know my kid. The fact that you did drugs doesn't mean he did," Ms Davis spat.

"Did he go anywhere last night?" Talia asked her hastily, seeing where this was going and seeing Chase have to bite his tongue.

"No, he was at home, studying."

"Any friends happen to come over and help?" Talia tried again.

"And bring him drugs?" Ms Davis then turned to Chase. "Is that what your friends did?" Chase looked fed up then, about to lose his cool for sure.

"Alright Dr Chase, you can go now," came Cameron's voice. Talia and Chase then spun around to see her standing there.

"I have it covered," he hissed to her.

"I tested him myself - no drugs found, okay?" Ms Davis announced. Chase did a sarcastic gesture with his hands that just read 'oh well that makes a lot more sense.'

"So let me get this straight," Chase was now getting extremely ticked off, "you trust your son to the ends of the earth and you supposedly know your kid so incredibly but you already tested him for drugs?"

"We had it covered," Talia repeated to Cameron.

"Seemed like it," Cameron rolled her eyes. Suddenly, the machine started beeping and they all turned around.

"Diazepam, 10 millilitres, stat," Chase rushed over to him.

"What the hell is happening here?" Cameron muttered as she pushed the mixture into the IV drip.

"He's seizing," Chase said obviously, as if it were a stupid question.

"Yeah, we can see that," Talia rolled her eyes, once they had stopped the seizure. They all excused themselves from the room apart from Cameron, who was desperate to get full answers from the mother.

"What the hell was that about?" Talia have a hefty sigh as they began to walk down the halls to the office.

"What?" Chase asked grumpily.

"Well everything!"

"Yeah, you're right, perhaps I should have just belted the dude down right away for when he called you hot," Chase retorted. Talia couldn't be bothered to argue with him. Things literally just got right between them.

"Don't be jealous, hun…oh! And I didn't know you did drugs, Chase," Talia teased him. He just rolled his eyes.

"That was just to get her on my side, it's not actually true," he insisted, barging into House's office where he was chomping on one of the burgers that they brought back from Miranda's, letting off the fresh scent of ready packed burgers. House didn't say anything to them, he just watched them sit down.

"The poor boy had a seizure," Talia ignored Chase's explanation and slid the clip board toward House, who simply slid it back with his elbow.

"It was probably all the commotion that you two were causing," he said thickly, a mouth full of beef bread and processed cheese but still taking another huge bite of the burger. Chase gave a large groan and slammed his head onto the table whilst Talia just blushed a deep shade of red.

"How did you find out about that?" she asked, avoiding her father's eyes.

"Foreman my trusted sidekick told me, and by the way, I would keep Dr Cameron away from Dr Chase over here, she's infatuated with the man," House told her quietly, finishing the burger by popping the last chunk into his mouth. Talia turned to Chase who just have a small, bored shrug back, still not over Talia being called hot by a little teenager.

"Allison and I had our time," he defended himself, his hands in the air as Talia began to feel a little nervous and more than self-conscious, feeling her heart pound suddenly and the familiar white noise glare through her ears.

"You did?" both Talia and House asked, House more with amusement and Talia with pure shock, trying to internally calm herself down. She hated this so much. It used to happen nearly twice a day when she had her…moments. The only thing that went through her mind was her face and her odd eyes and all of a sudden, Talia felt like crap. On the outside she was fine but on the inside, she knew she didn't have long left until she broke.

"I knew that when you were in the storeroom together for 15 minutes straight you weren't looking for more aprons," House sighed in satisfaction, leaning back in his chair, swinging his feet up onto the table and closing his eyes. Chase placed his hand on Talia's lap under the table and she glanced at him. His eyes said a lot and she have him a small reassuring smile to try and tell him that she was okay but she clearly wasn't.

She couldn't tell him about her past.

She couldn't tell anyone.

How could she?

She couldn't.

**A/N: Hello! I don't really have much to put here apart from thank you again for the support, haha. Also, if you don't like Talia's character you honestly don't have to keep on reading, no one is forcing you to. She has a past but it's not going to be something that is found out in the next ten chapters, a little bit will be leaked in each chapter so that eventually, by the time we hit season 4 or something, you may have sussed it out.**

**J x**


	14. Chapter 14 - Threats

"Talia, you okay?" Chase whispered quietly as they left the office. Talia turned around and gave him a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm good, don't worry about me," she mumbled, linking her arm with his. Chase didn't fully believe her but decided not to question it, simply enjoying her company. "I've got to go back to Matt," she whispered to Chase, who looked less than pleased at these words.

"Yeah, fine, I wanna go in there too actually," he tried to say casually, but obviously Talia knew that wasn't the case.

"Chase, you don't have to do that," Talia rolled her eyes, stepping into Matt's ward and as soon as she stepped in, Matt's eyes clearly lit up, which confirmed Chase's suspicions.

"Yes, I really do," he hissed, walking in behind her. "Evening, Matt. How are you feeling?"

"You're hot," Matt breathed, staring at Talia as she studied his heart rate.

"Thanks, I know, I'm beautiful, how are you feeling?" Chase asked again, a little louder. Matt's mother stared at the situation in front of her eyes in disbelief.

"Matt don't say that about your doctor," she hissed at him, slightly embarrassed at her son's behaviour. "I apologise, he's not usually like this." Talia gave her a tiny smile to imply that it was okay but Chase didn't respond to the mother, still a bit agitated with her attitude from when they first spoke.

"Don't worry about it, it doesn't matter," Talia shook it off, bending down in front of Matt and shining her small pocket torch into his left eye. "Matt can you see me?"

"Yes I can…" came Matt's wistful voice, and it's only when Talia followed his eyeline did she realise what he was so interested in. Her chest was rather visible in the dark blue tank top she wore today.

"Alright that's it," Chase grumbled, walking over to where Talia stood and gently steering her out of the way so that he could do the general tests instead.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Matt asked, completely ignoring Chase who was now in front of him.

"Yes, she does," Chase answered for Talia, who clearly didn't appreciate this. "And her boyfriend happens to be me."

"Oh really?" Matt's mother cocked one eyebrow up, now interested. "Wow, so you two work together and don't get annoyed with each other?"

"Why would we-"

"We do get annoyed with eachother, especially when one gets jealous," Talia gave a forced smile to the mother, who let out a small chuckle. Chase stayed silent. "Anyway it seems your son is responding well to-" Suddenly the heart monitor went off just as Chase was going to change the IV drip.

"Ah, not again," he muttered, getting the electric paddle from Talia and charging them.

"What was that you were saying about Matt getting better?" Mrs Davis muttered, taking a few steps back in shock and fear.

"So, you're telling me that he went into arrest again?" House scoffed. "Woah, this kid is going for a hat trick."

"What did you do, Chase?" Cameron nudged him playfully, which made him laugh slightly.

"No I didn't do anything. I nearly did though, when I saw how much he was flirting with Talia," he began, which made House groan.

"Seriously you work in a hospital, people are gonna get a crush on Talia whether you like it or not. More to the point, one day, someone will get a crush on you – learn how to deal with it," House snapped, standing up from his chair. Chase waved this off and gave a yawn.

"Were you busy last night, Chase?" Foreman grinned cheekily. Usually, Talia would blush but since she wasn't feeling too good recently, she decided to leave it.

"Yeah, at work," Chase grunted back.

"By the way, BTW, your mother would like to see you," House reminded his daughter before going to sit back down again with a mug of coffee.

"I'm not going," Talia said shortly. "Anyway what do you suggest we do for-"

"You are going, she'll be out in a while, can't you just ride this out until then?" House asked seriously. Talia shook her head.

"I came here to get away from her and now you just want me to go back to her. I knew you never really cared," she mumbled.

"Seriously? That's the game we're playing, remind me how you got this job again?" Talia knew she wouldn't be able to win this fight. Chase and Cameron were working on the case together already, sharing notes, which pushed Talia over the edge.

"Fine, I'll be back when I'm back," she mumbled, standing up and her chair scraping against the floor which made everyone wince.

"Where's Talia going?" Chase suddenly asked, only noticing she had left.

"To pay a visit to mother," House yawned, logging into his computer and saying no more on the matter.

"Oh, Talia, you've decided to join me," Miranda sniffed, sitting up in her bed. Talia shut the door of the ward behind her and closed the blinds. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure we're not disturbed," Talia muttered. "You should know why I'm here."

"I have no idea why you're here but I can only guess that you're about to tell me so I shouldn't really need to-"

"Once you go home, I don't want to see you ever again, here there or anywhere, okay?" Talia hissed lunging toward her mother, which made her jump in shock.

"Wow, Talia I thought you had moved on?" Miranda asked, her voice cracking slightly.

"I had," Talia confessed. "However, I know you and I know how big your mouth is and if you say anything to dad about what happened, you're going to regret it so much." Miranda let out a hearty laugh at this.

"Oh dear, please, do your worst, Talia," she grinned, not seeming fazed anymore. "You know that you can't hide it forever."

"Yeah but I don't need your input, mum. I swear I will attack you," Talia spat, which caused Miranda to give a large hefty sigh.

"Dearest, if you don't want me to say anything then obviously I won't. However, please, don't blame me if something just accidentally…slips…out," she trilled. Talia heard the white noise again somewhere in the back of her mind and she was sure she saw another shadow figure lurking in the corner of her eye and she dropped the act, not prepared to go into another panic attack.

"I…get well soon," Talia babbled, before running out of the room in a flash. She had no idea what was going on with her, she wasn't thinking straight at all.

"Woah, careful!" came Cameron's cheery voice. But Talia was in no mood to talk with her, so she walked by without saying another word.

**A/N: Nothing to report! Anybody guess Talia's hidden dark secret yet or not? Hmm.**


	15. Chapter 15 - Accusations

Talia kept running. She didn't know where she was running to or what she was running from, but she sped down the corridors like lightening – straight into Foreman, almost knocking him down in the process. "Careful," Foreman grunted, steadying Talia as she began to naturally fall forward.

"I'm sorry," Talia gasped.

"Are you okay?" Foreman asked suddenly, noticing that she seemed off guard.

"Absolutely fine," Talia lied.

"I take it you're going to House?"

"House?" Talia repeated, as if she didn't know who that was.

"Your father?"

"Right, right. Why would I be going to House?" Talia frowned slightly.

"You didn't get his buzz?"

"His buzz?" Talia asked, as if she hadn't ever heard of that either. "Oh you mean the pager? Yeah…no…."

"Just come with me," Foreman gave up, gently steering Talia into House's office where Cameron, Cuddy and Chase were waiting with House himself.

"Did you get lost?" House guessed lightly, his legs propped up on the desk.

"Go away," Talia groaned, her head banging in pain as she slumped into the chair next to Chase.

"Well, I guess you all know why we're here," Cuddy began slowly, looking tired as she stood up.

"What's up with you?" Chase leaned into Talia and hissed as Cuddy continued her speech. Talia had no idea what he was talking about because her head was still pounding and her vision was still blurred.

"Nothing," Talia muttered back, her eyes still focussed on Cuddy's to show that she was listening.

"You're acting so weird," Chase continued quietly, completely ignoring Talia's protest. "I just want to know what exactly is going through your head."

"Nothing, I insist," Talia mumbled, now getting highly irritated. "Drop it, Chase."

"Will you just tell me what's wrong? You know I hate it when you just shrivel up and close all of your emotions-"

"Doctor Chase, are you even listening?" came Cuddy's sharp voice. Chase rolled his eyes and turned away from Talia.

"Yeah. The mum of the boy doesn't want me working on this case anymore because she thinks I'm a druggie, what a crying shame," he said coldly, still not quite over it. Cuddy and Cameron raised their eyebrows whilst House just did a 'wow' notion with his mouth.

"Okay, let's all just calm down for a second," Talia suddenly interrupted. "Yeah I wasn't listening, what the hell is going on?"

"The boy's mother thinks that Chase, your beautiful blonde boyfriend, is a drug dude," House smirked slightly. "How wonderful is that?"

"You actually did drugs?" Talia turned to Chase properly. "That is…"

"Cool," House finished.

"Bad," Cuddy corrected him. "To be honest House you should've known this."

"Sorry dearest," House blinked rapidly at Cuddy. "However will you forgive me?" Foreman grinned at this, shaking his head.

"Look, we have to find out what this boy has because the sooner he can leave the sooner we can ignore this whole situation with the drugs," Cuddy shrugged this comment off, before nodding slightly and leaving the room.

"Well thank God that's over," blurted House. "I was getting so bored I forgot my own name. Right, so what are we doing about this boy of yours?"

"Well he seems to love Talia," Cameron's eyes began to twinkle. "When I went in there just now he was asking for her especially." Chase clenched his jaw and said nothing as Talia blushed slightly.

"Well who wouldn't?" she joked, finally turning back to her normal self again as her heart slowed down and her head stopped hurting.

"Yeah, who wouldn't," Chase repeated darkly, flipping through the case files. "Why am I even wasting my time to read this? I'm not even allowed to work on the boy."

"Don't even go there, of course we're still letting you work on this," Cameron tutted. "The woman has no idea what she wants and what she doesn't want."

"I'm pretty sure that she wants her son to get better," Foreman hinted heavily, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Haha, I see what you did there," House quickly jumped in, laughing a little too brightly. The team turned around, a little bit confused. "Great, now that I have your attention I would like you all to know that as a team of doctors, I think we should start thinking of a cure before our wonderboy dies."

"Why doesn't Talia go and try and get some information out of him since he likes her so much? Maybe then we can find out some more stuff that we might need to know before we treat him?" Cameron suggested, glancing at Chase for any form of reaction which he never gave.

"That's a great idea, four points to Cameron! Off you go Talia dearest." Talia gave a small smile before heaving herself away from the table and leaving.

"Hello Matt," Talia said brightly as she glided into the room, Matt's eyes automatically lighting up like a Christmas tree.

"Hello Doctor House," Matt said slowly, his eyes following Talia as she walked toward him. "How are you?"

"I'm not the one in a hospital bed, Matt," Talia let out a slight giggle, sitting in the chair next to him. "But I'm great. I just wanted to come and talk to you about…stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Well, what you do in your spare time?" Matt chuckled slightly at this.

"These questions are gonna help you diagnose me," he nodded knowingly. Talia bit her bottom lip.

"Yeah, that's right. If you don't tell me then we're not gonna be able to do that and I guess that you want to go back home?"

"Not really," Matt admitted, now closing his eyes.

"Why?" Talia blinked, thinking now she was going to get some form of information out of her.

"Because I'm going to be away from you." Talia coughed uncomfortably at this, mostly in awkwardness.

"Right," she nodded. "So, Matt, have you ever done something that you regret?"

"We've all done something we regret." Talia's heart began to thump as the walls began to close in again.

She couldn't breathe.

"Doctor?" Matt's face began to change, started to morph. It began to morph into something she never thought she would see again.

It was all getting worse.

**A/N: Hello! Sorry for no chapter last week – because of this, there will be the next chapter tomorrow.**

**J x**


	16. Chapter 16 - Seizures

Chase and Cameron skidded into the room, hearing the commotion coming from Talia. Matt sat there, looking worried, bearing in mind he didn't actually do anything. "What happened? What's wrong?" Chase panted, running over to Talia as Cameron dealt with Matt, flashing a light into his eyes to make sure he was okay. Since there was nothing that she could pick up, she turned to Chase whilst chewing her bottom lip.

"He's fine…" she whispered. Chase turned to Talia who was suddenly shaking violently in his arms. He checked her pulse and shone is own pocket torch into her eyes and saw that they were no longer focussed, beginning to roll to the back of her head, and all of her limbs had tensed up.

"Oh my god," Chase murmured, automatically supporting her head as he reached in his pocket for his pager. Cameron looked over anxiously.

"What's up?"

"She's seizing, Alison," Chase muttered under his breath, as Talia began to shake in quick, sudden jerks, white froth building up in her mouth. He lay her down on the floor as Cameron rushed over with a pillow to prop her head up. "T? Talia babe can you hear me?" Chase called out, taking her pulse as help finally arrived in the form of a few more nurses. Chase felt his own heart begin to slam against his chest as he was passed a syringe. "How's her pulse?"

"Not great, 56," Cameron told him quickly as Chase pushed the syringe into Talia's arm, numbing her movements and sending her still. The nurses came with a stretcher and gently lifted Talia onto it, quickly carrying her to another room. Chase just stood there, in shock, with Cameron standing next to him - equally shocked.

"What just happened?"

"House," Chase walked into the office, his hands clenched into fists. "Talia's in ward 28."

"I heard," House muttered, resting his head on the palms of his hands and vaguely looking into the distance. "What happened?"

"She was screaming when Cameron and I walked by and when we got in there, she started seizing," Chase's clear blue eyes were full of fear and he clearly wanted to go back out there and see her.

"Well I guess all we can do is diagnose her," House suggested lightly. "So go on, do the usual interrogation."

"Seriously? You want us to treat her like a normal person?"

"...as supposed to?" Chase gave a huge sigh but shrugged, not in the mood to argue.

"Alright, I'll go," he agreed before sweeping out of the room.

Talia sat up in her bed, dazed and confused, heart pounding and her head rushing. Chase walked in and when he saw she was awake, rushed over to her and sat down in the chair that was at the head of the bed. "T," he breathed, grabbing her hand. "Never, do that again."

"What happened?" Talia croaked, feeling Chase check her pulse.

"You had a seizure and I have little to no idea why," Chase mumbled, writing down something on his board.

"Awww. Were you scared?" Talia teased, poking him in the chest playfully. Chase rolled his eyes slightly and put the clipboard down.

"I thought you were actually dying," he scoffed. "I mean scared is a bit of an understatement." Talia grinned at this and laid down properly, snuggling deeper into the covers.

"What happened to me?"

"I don't know," Chase muttered. "I was hoping you would be able to tell me the same thing."

"All I can remember is him coming toward me-" Talia began quietly, her eyes going wide again. Suddenly, Chase's head snapped up.

"Who? Who was coming toward you? Was it Matt? I KNEW IT!" he rushed out, pacing the room as Foreman casually walked in, just for a check up. When he saw Chase's state, he raised his eyebrows.

"What's going on?"

"Matt tried to make a move on Talia," Chase raged.

"No, he didn't!" Talia interrupted quickly. "Forget about what I said, it wasn't Matt."

"Talia if he's touched you we should know," Foreman frowned, looking angry as he slowly realised there could be an over-obsessive teenage boy hitting on nurses.

"He didn't touch me," Talia insisted, as her vision had suddenly begun to cloud over again and her breathing became rugged. "Oh my god it's happening a-a-again, Ch-ch-chase," she gasped, sitting up straight and clutching her chest in fear. Chase dashed over to her before she could even finish the sentence, Foreman at his heels.

"Stay with me, T!" Chase shouted at her as Foreman held her down before the rapid shaking begun again.

"What the hell is going on?" Foreman asked Chase over the noise of the bed beginning to rattle and shake, his hands still firmly pinned on her shoulders.

"I've got no idea – someone call House!"

"Step aside," came House's voice, literally as soon as Chase got the words out.

"We can't move, House, if we leave her here to-" Foreman began.

"Just move, leave her!" House said calmly but firmly, squinting his eyes as Talia carried on seizing.

"HOW CAN WE LEAVE HER? SHE'S HAVING A SIEZURE!" Chase shouted at House, as if he was deliberately being stupid.

"Foreman, let go of her," House instructed.

"Foreman, leave your hands there," Chase hissed, as he quickly got the Diazepam injection from the nurse who had for some reason just recently come in.

"Do not give her Diazepam!"

"HOUSE ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Chase was in such shock that he didn't even listen as he tore open the plastic.

"Chase, do it," Foreman muttered, his eyes pleading. Chase nodded and shook the syringe.

"Foreman, trust me and let go of her!" House suddenly shouted, which made Foreman jump back in shock and Talia ended up shaking so violently that she almost fell off the bed. House stared at her in confusion, trying to make out what exactly was happening to her.

"House are you satisfactory now?" Chase snapped, but was suddenly interrupted by Talia beginning to spit up thick amounts of blood. House didn't say anything, he just moved his head to the side slightly as Foreman finally pinned Talia back down so Chase could inject her and stop the madness.

…

"What was that about?" Chase asked House angrily as them and Foreman swept through the hallways back to his office.

"I wanted to see what was going to happen to her," House answered simply, limping into his office.

"She nearly died," Foreman hissed.

"Oh don't act like you were trying to help, you let go of her!" Chase exclaimed, now feeling so stressed that he felt like he had to go and sit down or scream or something.

"She's bleeding from the mouth," House said slowly, not paying attention to anything that Chase was ranting about.

"What does that even mean?" Foreman asked House, also now ignoring Chase.

"It means that she's sick," House muttered, rubbing his hands together, almost in concern.

"No, really?" Chase gasped, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Not just sick," House cut in sharply, inhaling a deep breath sharply. "Dying. And we have no idea why."

**A/N: I AM SO SORRY THIS IS LATE, I am actually back to writing now.**


	17. Chapter 17 - The Parent Trap

"Dying?" Chase spluttered, his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach. "That's a bit harsh isn't it?"

"Oh, you're right – she's slowly deactivating, she's shutting down, what else could I say?" House mocked.

"House, she's your daughter! Your actual flesh and blood – are you not in any way upset or concerned? You're treating her like she's a normal…you treated her mum better than you're treating her and you were meant to hate the woman!" Chase finally broke, the pressure now getting too much for him to handle.

"Chase," Foreman hissed, tugging his arm to the side as House just ignored him and kept walking forward.

"What?!"

"You cannot lose your cool about this. What happened with Talia is sad, yeah sure but the quicker we get through this the quicker we cure her right?" Foreman said obviously, looking irritated.

"No! Sorry but I can't just pretend like I'm not terrified, it doesn't work like that, not for me, she might not even live to see tomorrow and everyone is waltzing around this place like they've got all the time in the world," Chase ranted angrily, his cheeks turning a deeper shade of red and his eyes getting wider and wider. "I mean it's not like I was planning to marry her or anything but-"

"Chase! Cameron just paged me, Talia's awake again," Foreman finally managed to get his words out, shutting Chase up immediately.

"T!" Chase skidded across the polished floor over to the bed, where Talia was wired up to a numerous number of machines and her face was scrunched up in pain. She had dried blood around her mouth and her eyes were streaming with tears. It hurt Chase physically. He walked over to her and sat down on the seat next to her head again, his eyes just full of sorrow. "T…"

"Ch-Chase, oh my god it hurts s-so m-m-much," Talia sobbed, trying to focus her eyes on Chase but feeling them burn and sting every time she tried. He clenched his jaw and shook his head, stroking the sweat off her forehead, not sure what to say or do.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he muttered, genuinely torn apart. "I wish I knew what was wrong babe, but I don't." Talia gave a short nod as if she understood but Chase knew what she was really thinking and feeling.

"It's okay, it doesn't matter," Talia gasped in pain. She shoved her knuckle into her mouth and bit down on it, hard, to try and distract her from the pain. Chase shook his head slowly, watching Talia deal with it as House came into the ward…with Miranda. Talia's heart began to thump against her chest.

"Chase, out," House said quickly.

"What? Why?" Chase frowned, tearing his eyes away from Talia. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh…that's a really stupid question," House said obviously, rolling his eyes. He settled himself down on Talia's bed and watched her, with a look on his face that Chase couldn't read. Miranda just sat down on the seat opposite Chase. "Just leave for a second." Chase sighed and got up, reluctantly making his way out of the room. "And close the door?"

"He's such a nice boy," Miranda sighed lightly after hearing the click of the door shut. Talia, who had momentarily fallen asleep, recognised her voice and her eyes shot open. However, not only did she see her parents, but she also saw the dark figure standing in the doorway, not moving or flinching.

So she screamed, again.

"Is this what you were talking about?" House murmured to Miranda, neither of them moving.

"Yeah, she used to do this every day until a few years ago," she answered him, fiddling with the ring on her finger as she studied Talia's behaviour. "So you're saying it's not medical, it's psychological?"

"I guess, the seizures are just as a response to whatever's going on up there," House shrugged slightly. It was incredible how they were even having a conversation over the sounds of Talia's screeches. House hopped off the bed and shone his torch into her eyes again, looking to see if her pupils were dilated. "Well somehow she's not seizing." He chucked the torch down and clapped loudly, right in Talia's face, the noise snapping Talia out and her eyes were still full of terror but the screaming stopped. Miranda raised her eyebrows.

"House, get him out of here," Talia whispered, her voice cracking with desperation as she grabbed House's hand in fear. Her nails were digging into his skin but House didn't seem to care – he found whatever Talia was talking about a lot more fascinating.

"Get who out of here?" he encouraged her. Miranda's eyes went wide.

"House maybe its best you just leave her, if she tells the story again it might-"

"Do you want her to get better or not?" House snapped. Miranda bit down on her bottom lip anxiously, her stomach dissolving into butterflies. Talia didn't want anyone to know what was going on with her for a reason, and only now did Miranda realise what it was. She had always threatened her daughter with telling people her secret, but she would never really do it. "Talia, who's here? Speak to me?"

"Ryan," Talia panted, beginning to sweat. House glanced at the machine and saw that her pulse was increasing. He didn't want to push her to the point where she could have a heart attack but he needed to know what she was talking about. His curiosity had already gotten the better of him.

"Ryan, who's that?"

"House, leave it, please," Miranda interrupted uncomfortably, getting up and coming trying to push House away. Talia saw her mother there and her heart slowed down and her tears stopped running. It's like she snapped back to her old self.

"House, get out of my face," she murmured, breaking eye contact with him and blinking at her mum. Automatically, House knew that he lost the opportunity.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath, straightening up. Talia licked her lips and tried to ignore the fact that both of her parents were staring at her. "Talia, who's Ryan?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she mumbled. "Sorry. But I would like to sleep now, if that's alright?" Talia lay down and closed her eyes, hoping that they would get the point and leave her alone. How would she be able to tell her father what had actually happened to Ryan?

How would she be able to tell her father that she was responsible for him being 10 feet under?

**A/N: Thank you for waiting so patiently for this chapter - next one will be next Friday, I promise, **


	18. Chapter 18 - Stacy

Before they knew it, Talia was up and running again and the most unnerving thing was that she had completely ignored what had happened to her. She had turned into her old self, annoying Foreman, ignoring Cameron's attempts to make friends with her and when she wasn't working – well she was making out with Chase somewhere.

House obviously hated this.

"You've gotta stop doing that," he was telling Talia seriously one morning as he packed his bags. Talia glanced up from the paperwork she was filling out.

"Doing what?"

"Getting happy time with Chase. Just a week ago you were dying in bed, now it's like nothing's changed," House mumbled. Talia just shrugged.

"I don't know what you would rather me do, I'm not gonna sit there and brood over what I can't change, dad," she sighed before going back to whatever she was scribbling down.

"House, it's House, not dad," House stressed, zipping up his rucksack.

"Oh give me a break, it gets boring," Talia yawned. "Alright, what are you packing for then?"

"I'm gonna go and visit a friend," House told her.

"You're going to Death Row, Cuddy told me."

"Then why bother asking?"

"To annoy you," Talia said simply. "And to see how easy it is for you to tell a lie without even thinking about it properly. Does that make you a compulsive liar? I don't know! You'll have to tune in next week to find out I guess."

"Well aren't you adorable," House muttered. He turned around and gave her a fleeting look. "Can I trust this hospital in your hands for a few hours?"

"Why can't you let me come with you?" Talia begged him.

"Because you being with me all that time, I wouldn't be able to function properly," House told her firmly. "Just don't burn anything down and don't kill anyone. I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Are you serious? You're leaving me for a few hours not a few years – I'll be fine," Talia shook her head playfully. She got up and checked her reflection in the mirror, tucking some strands of blonde behind her ear and letting others stay the way there were, curtaining her face.

"Talia!" Cameron exclaimed, catching her walking down the hallway later on that day. Talia bit her bottom lip in irritation before spinning round.

"Allison," she faked a smile. "What's up?"

"Can you look at these test results for me?" Talia was slightly taken aback at this – she avoided Cameron at the best of times and now it just looked like she was…asking for her help?

"Why do I need to do that? You've never come to me for help before," she asked quietly, taking Cameron aside.

"Yeah well I'm asking you now," Cameron hissed, shoving the papers into Talia's hands. Talia just stayed silent as she rustled through the papers. It seemed pretty straight forward.

"You're asking for a consultation but you know this sheet has never been more straightforward," Talia muttered, giving the papers back.

"Are you sure? Do you think I should-"

"God, Allison, why do you care?" Talia asked seriously, walking back to the destination she had in the first place. Cameron scurried after her.

"Wouldn't you? We all worried about you the other week when we thought you were dying."

"Okay, that's interesting since I heard House just stood there and watched me have a seizure." Cameron shuffled about uncomfortably then.

"Well, Chase tells you everything, doesn't he?"

"I wouldn't expect him to do anything less?" Talia frowned, not sure what she was getting at. But before Cameron could say anything, they had come face to face with the woman herself. Stacy Warner. "Oh you have got to be joking me right now," she whispered lightly, her hand hovering over her mouth as she stared at Stacy in disgust. "What are you doing here? Tell me you're here to get help or you're dying or something-"

"T, that isn't very nice now is it?" came a cheeky voice as a tired looking Chase suddenly hugged her from behind. Talia had only known Stacy for a few years when she was younger. She knew her as her mother's best friend, she used to come round and they used to drink red wine and gossip until the early hours of the morning. She didn't know why but she really, really didn't like her and she never would.

"Hello Talia," Stacy gave a graceful smile. Cameron just made a 'woah this is awkward' face before dashing off down the halls again.

"Don't say hello to me, my mum isn't even here anymore, we don't have to have any friendship or relationship, forced or not," Talia made sure she understood.

"I think we're gonna have to have some form of acquaintance, due to the fact that I practically run this hospital now," Stacy said with some form of relish in her voice. If Talia could do it without any repercussions, she would claw Stacy's eyes out.

"How is that even possible? It's like all of my nightmares are following me into this place, can you all let me start my life again?" Talia hissed, letting herself be dragged away by Chase before she did end up kicking her. Once he had got her to an empty ward, he turned her round to face him.

"T, you need to calm down, now," Chase hissed, holding Talia's face in his hands and staring deep into her eyes. Then he noticed something. "Bub…your eyes look different today…" Something in Talia's head switched.

"Shut up Chase," she snapped, moving his hands away from her cheeks and stamping her foot. "God you're always finding faults in me."

"That's not true!" Chase gasped, extremely confused as to what was going on. He was concerned for how quickly Talia's mood changed and it unnerved him.

"Yes it is, I knew you don't like me, no one does," Talia suddenly burst into tears, covering her face with her hands. Chase reached into his pocket to get his pager, when suddenly the door to the ward burst open and in ran nurses, police officers and House, wheeling a hefty looking man on the bed, who was gasping for air.

"House," Chase said slowly, his voice hitting warning notes.

"Yes Chase?" House asked innocently.

"Please tell me that's not the death row guy," came Stacy's irritated voice.

"Of course it is," Cameron muttered in annoyance. "Because that's logical." Suddenly, Chase blinked and noticed Talia had gone. He rushed out of the door away from the scene and as he was doing that, Stacy had already pulled House to the side.

"You did not tell me that she was here," she hissed to him. House rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't aware I had to tell you everything that happens in the entire world ever," he muttered, feeling his patience slowly slipping.

"Well when it involves Talia, it would be good to know," Stacy snapped.

"Look, as long as she doesn't find out what you actually did and who you are, it will be fine, right?"

"Did you find out what happened to my son? Has she told you what happened to Ryan, House?" Stacy's voice had hints of desperation in it and a whole heap of anger,

"I told you I'm working on it. She was close to telling me before but I'm no longer that certain," House admitted, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Well work faster. I deserve to know what she did," were Stacy's final words before she swept right out of the room.

**A/N: Okay it feels like ages since I did this but here you go! There are a bunch of interweaving storylines in this fanfic and things are about to get crazy.**

**If you would like to follow me on twitter it's langdondarling**

**See you guys on Fridaaaaay!**

- **J x**


	19. Chapter 19 - No Progress

It wasn't difficult and didn't take very long for Stacy and Talia to get on each other's nerves. In fact, since House brought in the man from death row, Talia and Stacy's relationship began to strain even more than it did before. And for House, Cuddy and Chase, this made situations extremely awkward. "Have you redone the tests?" Chase was asking Cameron, staring at the papers that she had given him.

"Yeah," Cameron sighed shakily, waiting for Chase to say something else. "A few times now."

"Well then what else are you expecting me to say?" Chase asked, almost sadly, as he passed her back the results. "It looks pretty clear to me." Cameron bit down on her jaw.

"I agree," came House's voice as he came in with Talia and Foreman. "Cameron please do not tell me that is the same damn case that you asked me about earlier? She's dying, get over it." Talia, Chase and Foreman all stared at him, not expecting him to be so blunt. Then he turned to the rest of them. "So, death row guy has been taking drugs!"

"Shock, horror!" Talia rolled her eyes.

"Wait, a guy in a high security prison? How did he get any form of drugs?" Chase asked, genuinely baffled. Foreman stared at him in disbelief.

"Seriously? How did ya'll at the nunnery convent get porn magazines?" Foreman scoffed.

"We didn't?" Chase blinked, looking like a sad confused blonde puppy. "Is that a trick question?" Talia smiled to herself at this, admiring how cute he was.

"To be fair, Foreman, you can't generalise. Not everyone had the thrilling childhood that you had, right? Some of us had such boring lifestyles, right?" House gave such a fake smile that Foreman's playful smirk turned into a scowl.

"Here you go, generalising again! You know, some black people would actually be offended by your comments?" House just made a boo-hoo face and changed the topic.

"I have nothing against black people, you know, they're cool. Anyway point being, I need someone to go and check out the place, see what he was taking other than deep breaths," he announced, leaning on his cane. Cameron couldn't help but look at Foreman who threw his hands up in desperation.

"Fine! Fine I'll-"

"Chase and Talia, you're up."

"What?" Talia let out a laugh in disbelief. "You've never put just us two on a house search before, let alone a prison."

"Yeah I have," House reminded them slowly. "But the only things that you had upturned in that house was the bed sheets-"

"No, again, House, that was just your assumptions, her mattress was infected with lice and whatnot, I wouldn't ever go that far," Chase tutted. "I have standards."

"I don't need to know," House groaned. "Just go. Actually Chase, come here for a second." Chase stopped walking and Talia walked straight out, not bothered.

"What's up?" he asked House curiously.

"I need you to find out about this Ryan dude, okay? It's clearly affecting her health and I just need to know," House replied, chewing his bottom lip. Chase said nothing and just nodded, as he was slightly curious of who he was as well.

…

"I have no clue how this is gonna work out," Chase murmured as they drove down the road leading to the secluded high security prison.

"We walk in and show them the letter that Stacy wrote," Talia sighed, closing her eyes and leaning back into the seat.

"No, I mean with us, T," Chase said gently, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. Talia felt sick.

"What do you mean? What's happened? I thought that we were okay?" Talia began to panic and her voice was reaching levels that it usually didn't.

"We are! We are okay, T," Chase quickly backtracked, his blue eyes going wide and placing his hand on her leg in comfort. "I just worry about you, that's all." Talia cocked her head to the side and ran her fingers through her hair.

"You don't have to worry about me, Chase. I'm absolutely fine, I have coped with the issue all on my own for a long time now," she reminded him lightly, trying not to make this conversation serious as she knew exactly where he was going with it.

"Yeah, I know. But that was before you met me. Now, you have me to look out for you and I am going to try and do that," Chase explained slowly, his eyes back on the road and both hands on the steering wheel. Talia attempted to say something to change the conversation direction completely but sadly couldn't even get the words out. "So…babe…I was wondering. What happened to Ryan?" There was a fuzzing noise in Talia's ear and suddenly she couldn't breathe properly – but she refused to have another one of these things again.

"Who?"

"Talia, you can't just keep pretending you don't know anything about it when you had a whole situation where you kept seizing and whatnot, I mean no one knows who he is, not even House knows."

"House doesn't know who he is because House hasn't really been a dad to me for all these years. Only now have I actually known him so I really don't expect him to-"

"Talia…"

"Alright! Oh my god fine. Ryan…" then she began to cry. "Ryan was my best friend." Chase nodded and listened intently.

"Go on," he encouraged her.

"We were best friends ever since he and I were young and we used to play outside and inside and whatnot…and then one day he went away." Talia stopped there, biting her bottom lip so hard that it started to bleed and as her mouth filled with blood, it forced her to stay quiet.

"Bub? Continue," Chase glanced at her.

"Chase, we're here!" Talia said brightly, nudging her head toward the prison and unbuckling her seatbelt. Chase let out a groan and held her arm.

"Talia, come on, you were so close to-"

"Chase, there is a guy dying in that hospital and the sooner we find whatever he's sniffing, the sooner we can get back and get this sorted. Maybe then I'll finish the story, but for now we have to go and you know we do," she whispered, before opening the car door and swinging her legs out. Chase let out a noise of irritation and, knowing she was right, followed her out.

**A/N: It's about to get really bad. I was thinking of making a trailer for this and putting it online, but I don't know what would you guys like?**

- **J x**


	20. Chapter 20 - 9 Year Old

Chase and Talia's relationship was already on the rocks – it literally came to the point where anything could push them both over the edge. And that something happened to be a nine year old girl. It all started in the MRI room. "Let's lay you down and I'll attach this thingamajiggy," Chase smiled to the girl, prepping her for the x ray as Talia stayed in the communication room and waited patiently for him to actually begin. She found the girl, Andie, very cute because she was very brave. She was only nine but she was so strong, it marvelled her. And it appeared that she was very witty, too.

"You mean Sat monitor?" Andie frowned. Talia laughed slightly.

"Yeah, Chase," she teased, using the intercom.

"Oh, a pro! I like it," Chase grinned.

"Central line for the chemo," Andie poked out her tongue.

"Yeah…it doesn't hurt or anything, does it?" Chase asked curiously.

"No, it's awesome! Saves a lot of needles and time," Andie yawned.

"First time I've ever heard someone talk it about it like that…alright can I interest you with a walk in the park?" Chase pressed the button and the walls changed to beautiful scenery.

"No thanks."

"Okay," Chase tried again. "Butterflies?"

"No thanks. Doesn't matter what the walls look like – you're still looking for cancer, right?" Talia sat back in her chair at this comment. She never really thought of it this way. Andie's intelligence absolutely astounded her.

"Actually, we're looking for infections," Chase began.

"But good point," Talia inputted quickly, not wanting to come across as inconsiderate.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Chase muttered.

"A pro," Andie smirked. "I like it." Talia raised her eyebrows and giggled to herself. A nine year old having a crush on Chase – how cute. Right?

…

"Oh she's adorable," Talia was telling Cameron and Foreman later that day as they waited for House to come in. "She has the cutest little crush on Chase over there." Chase just rolled his eyes at this and ignored them.

"Chase always gets the admirers," Cameron frowned. "I can never understand why."

"Well giving that once you were one of those admirers, Cameron, you should really know the best out of everyone here," came House's tired and bored voice. Foreman winced at this and Talia bit her lip and stayed quiet. "Right, what do we have with our adorable little girl then?"

"Tox screens and MRI are clean," Talia began. House took the results from her and clicked his tongue.

"Oxygen saturation is 94%, so-"

"No, her oxygen levels are normal," Foreman frowned.

"They're one percent out-"

"But still within the range, therefore they are normal," Chase blinked.

"Oh, but if her DNA were one percent off she would be a dolphin!" House reminded them.

"It really doesn't matter what the oxygen percentage is off because the problem is with her lungs, not her heart," Cameron inputted quickly.

"A lung problem doesn't cause hallucinations?" Foreman muttered.

"But it could lead us to whatever is," Talia nodded, standing up.

"Welcome to the end of the thought process, please collect all of your items and bags as you exit the cart. Whilst you guys are getting a plethysmography, I'm getting bagels. Anyone want one, no? Fine by me!" House left the room.

…

Talia and Stacy could not avoid each other forever. So Talia had to sort it out. She knocked on the office door, not ready for whatever was thrown at her physically but emotionally, she could take it. "Yes?" came a voice from inside. Talia opened the door and poked her head through. When Stacy glanced up and saw her, she swiftly put down her pen and crossed her arms. "Oh, Talia. You're here on your own – where's Doctor Chase?" she asked cockily. Talia shut the door behind her and approached Stacy's desk.

"He's in the test lab with our patient," she answered quietly. "Can I talk to you?" Stacy took a moment to reply but eventually waved her hand to say it was okay before picking the pen back up. Talia sat down and began.

"Ryan is not dead," she whispered. Stacy's grip on her bed suddenly got increasingly tight, to the point where you could see the whites of her knuckles.

"Come again?"

"He's not dead. I know you think he is but he's not. I know he's not," Talia continued, desperate to get the words out before the white noise came back. "He's not dead and I think he knows where I am."

"You're not well," Stacy shook her head quickly, her breathing rigid. "You're not okay, why lie about something like that you disgusting-"

"I'm not lying," Talia blurted out. "You have to believe me, he's not-" Suddenly, Stacy stood up and slammed her hands on the desk, creating a loud bang.

"I buried my son," she hissed, enraged. "I buried him and you killed him, you're the reason for my misery. So don't mess with my head and get out, before I fire you." Talia bit back the tears and shrugged, shaking her head pitifully.

"You're the one that's not well," she muttered, before standing up and storming out of the office.

…

Talia stormed straight out of the office and straight into House's one, where they were in the middle of debating if Andie was a liar about being molested or not. "She told me she'd never kissed a boy!" Chase was stressing, his blonde hair a mess as if he had been running his hands through it in stress.

"You read her diary too?" House guessed.

"She asked me to kiss her," Chase admitted. Talia, who at the time wasn't listening, snapped her head up as soon as he said this.

"She did what?"

"Chase she's nine!" Foreman reminded him.

"Proving my point, what nine year old do you know that has sex on the brain when a doctor is fiddling with a needle in her vein?" House nodded smugly, settling himself down on his desk.

"She wanted one kiss before she dies. If she's never kissed a boy what makes you think she has had sex?" Chase scoffed.

"How about this, she's been molested and therefore seeks comfort in older men with beautiful hair! Victims learn how to manipulate and you, my friend, have been duped. You did it didn't you. You kissed her," House tutted. There was a disgusting silence. Talia was sure she heard her heart thumping in her chest.

"…It wasn't sick," Chase muttered. Talia felt sick to her stomach and Cameron almost threw up right there and then. Foreman just looked at Chase like he was a huge pile of dog poo. "It was a dying girl…one small kiss before she dies. One…one small-"

"Yes, Chase, one small kiss for a dying CHILD! Do you know what that makes you?!" Talia shouted, now losing all respect for the young girl and Chase at the same time.

"She's dying!" Chase held up his hands. "It was harmless! There was nothing there, nothing at all." Cameron's house dropped open.

"Chase you see that as nothing? You've practically cheated on Talia with a nine year old," House stirred up more trouble, before leaning back again.

"No, no don't get that notion into her head because then-"

"Then WHAT?" Talia's eyes were now streaming with tears. Mostly from embarrassment but also from the shame of it all. "You please tell me Chase, what is the worst thing that I can do, find a problem, please find a problem with me feeling uncomfortable with you giving a nine year old more attention than you've given me." Chase had nothing to say.

"That's exactly why he can't touch my markers. Go and find out if she's had sex," House told Talia.

"Yeah, I will," she grunted back. Foreman knew what was coming next, he could just tell.

"Talia-" he tried to intervene but Talia had already stood up, walked up to Chase and gave him the world's biggest slap on his cheek, causing Chase to swear out loud, bend over and cup his raw red cheek as Talia ran out of the room.

"Oh god that was so much better than General Hospital," House hummed in content.

**A/N: Loved writing this chapter cos I remember watching this episode and thinking it was a really weird thing to do, and it was odd how they all dismissed that Chase kissed a nine year old? IDK, happy new years anyway! This year is the year for writers I hope!**

**J x**


	21. Chapter 21 - Heartless

Talia was fuming, absolutely fuming. In fact, any other head of department would not have her go and speak to the young girl that just kissed her boyfriend but her boss was House – and House liked any form of drama that he could possibly get. So as Talia stormed through the hallway she tried her hardest to calm down, to breathe regularly and to try to stop her heart from violently slamming against her chest. She entered the room where Andie sat in her bed, and forced a smile. Andie just stared at her. "Hello. I'm Dr Talia?"

"I know. I met you earlier when I had my scan," Andie acknowledged, giving her a ghost of a smile. Talia didn't respond to this, still trying to keep her emotions under control. She walked over to her, putting on her white gloves. "What are you checking for now?"

"We need to see if you've had sex," Talia stated bluntly, gently laying Andie down. Andie's eyes went from confusion to disgust.

"Are you kidding?"

"What?"

"I'm only nine! When would I have had time to…" Talia blinked and stepped back from her, folding her arms.

"Well, around the same time that you had to kiss a grown man?" she guessed. Andie blushed furiously.

"I didn't see the harm in it!" Talia shook her head and went back over to her, starting the examination.

"Yeah, maybe you didn't but Doctor Chase should have," she muttered under her breath. Andie fell silent for a second.

"Do you know him outside of work?" she asked quietly. Talia raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows.

"Well, you could say that."

"Is…is he your boyfriend?" Andie whispered. Talia hummed in reply, trying not to focus on the questions and focussing instead on the task at hand. Andie let out a frustrated sigh. "I always ruin things. Always. I am so sorry…I didn't…I…"

"You're clear," Talia interrupted her apology abruptly, not in the mood for the sad emotional stuff right now.

"Please forgive me," Andie begged, sitting up again as Talia took off her gloves and threw them into the bin nearby.

"You're clear," Talia repeated, this time a little quieter. She turned on her heel and was about to leave the room.

"Please Doctor Talia. I didn't mean for this to happen, I didn't know it was gonna ruin stuff, if I knew that I would take it back. I really am sorry, please tell me that you forgive me? Please," Andie called out in desperation. Talia turned back around, her eyes filled with turmoil.

"You're clear," she finally whispered, before turning around and walking straight out.

…

House had called the next meeting in the locker room, much to everyone's confusion. By the time Talia had made it in there, Foreman and Cameron were already looking frustrated, propping themselves up on the lockers and Chase was sitting on the bench, his head in his hands, not even looking up when he heard the locker room door open and close. "Why are we here?" Talia sighed, folding her arms.

"Better acoustics. How was our little maneater?" House nudged his daughter.

"She's sorry, very sorry," Talia nodded slowly. "But, uh, she's the wrong person to be sorry as far as I'm concerned."

"Yup," Cameron scoffed in agreement.

"You got that right," Foreman hummed.

"Yeah! We get it, I'm disgusting for performing a dying girl's wish, I'm a horrible person let's just move on," Chase snapped.

"You have no right to speak, or do anything at all as far as I'm concerned, least of all snap at us so could you just shut up? Don't even think out loud, I don't wanna hear it, got it?" Talia said all of this in such a threatning, disturbing way that everyone was stunned to silence for a few seconds. "Anyway House, what were you saying?"

"Uh…well before you came in, I played her heartbeat. Basically we're operating on her," House stated bluntly.

"…why?" Talia asked uncertainly.

"Tricuspid, mitral, again," House counted the beats.

"Wait! There, there's an extra flap!" Cameron suddenly exclaimed.

"Finally. I'm gonna ask the surgeon to look at the mitral valve first," House sighed in relief, grabbing his cane, ready to walk out of there again. "Chase, I want you there. I don't like reading surgeon reports, they're boring."

"I don't think I should be spending any more time…" Chase trailed off. Talia rolled her eyes.

"She'll be unconscious, you'll be safe," House waved him off, leaving. Cameron decided to steer Talia out of the room, not looking for another argument.

…

The hardest thing that Talia had to do, in all of her experiences in that hospital since she joined, was what House asked her to do later that day. "You want me to tell her she's gonna die?" Taila repeated the instruction, running her hands through her long dark blonde hair stressfully.

"Well think about this – Foreman is too blunt, he has no sympathetic bone in his body," House began to count off his fingers.

"You mean like you?" Talia blinked in mock innocence. House sighed and took a deep breath in.

"Yeah, that's right. Cameron has too many sympathetic bones, she'll probably end up crying before she even walks into the room-"

"Yeah but there's a reason for that, a damn good one if you ask me," Talia interrupted again, placing her mug of tea down on the table.

"Are you gonna just keep interrupting me, or…"

"What about Wilson? This is what he does for a living, he's a pro at this," Talia was now clutching at straws. House just gave a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"Off you go. Tell your little fan girl that she's dying," he nodded. Talia got up and slowly approached Andie's room, taking a deep breath before going in. Andie was sat up, reading something, but she looked very ill and very drawn out. Talia shut the door and walked over to her, grabbing a chat and sitting next to her. She took a deep breath, and began to speak.

This was no time to be heartless.

**A/N: I cannot believe this story has gotten 100 follows. That makes me so happy I cannot even describe. Thank you all so much for supporting me, of course I will carry on writing. I just really appreciate all of you. Sorry this chapter is so short by the way I had a lot of exams to revise for. A much longer one next week!**

- **J **


	22. Chapter 22 - Guilt

"Andie?" Talia whispered timidly. Andie glanced up from her book and smiled slightly.

"Afternoon," she nodded. Talia took another deep breath, which she couldn't keep doing because if she took another one she would most definitely faint. For some reason, her stomach was doing flips and somersaults, her knees had begun to shake as she attempted to calm herself down.

"Uh…Andie…" Suddenly, the doors slid open and in walked Andie's mother. Great. That's just what Talia needed.

"Your boss told me that there was something I needed to hear?" Andie's mother asked worriedly, grabbing another chair and pulling it to the other side of the bed that held her daughter.

"My…boss?"

"Yes…uh…Doctor House?" Talia whipped her head to the window and saw House leaning against the wall, watching her. Unbelievable amounts of anger swirled in the pits of her stomach.

"Right…uh, Mrs Randolph…I'm sorry to inform you – but your daughter is…" Andie cocked her head to the side as she studied Talia's movements with her large eyes. Then she slowly fluttered her eyes shut, as if she were preparing herself for the next few words to leave Talia's lips. "She's…dying."

With those words, the reactions were all different. Andie's mother burst into hot, heavy tears – and Andie was the person who had to comfort her. Talia knew she couldn't just leave it there, either.

"She's dying and there's nothing more we can do for her. I am so, so sorry," she mumbled before going pale and rushing out of the room. House was the first person to meet her. "You, are evil," she hissed, whacking him on his arm. House nodded briskly.

"This is true - her reaction though? That was just weird," he hummed thoughtfully. Talia let out a noise that was a mix between shock and confusion.

"You sent me in there to test out her reaction shots? Go to hell," she spat.

...

"She's brave," Cameron mused later on that day.

"Yeah yeah whatever but why?" House pressed on. Talia sniffed and didn't answer, fiddling with the hem of her white shirt.

"Well, she's gone through more than any grown person would have experienced in a lifetime," Chase muttered. He still didn't look at Talia - he didn't dare.

"Yeah she's even had an affair and everything, we know...but what if that bravery is just a result of the clot in her brain?" House stared at all of them.

"You're saying her bravery is chemically based?" Talia scoffed.

"Since when were you her fan?" House blinked.

"Since I told her she was going to die and she didn't shed a tear," Talia replied coldly. "Something that you didn't have the balls to do." House rolled his eyes.

"Right...oh...I got it..." he murmured, grabbing his cane and hobbling off.

...

"T!" Chase called after Talia, who was swiftly walking toward the ward Andie was in. Talia spun around at his voice. She was crying. Chase didn't expect it, so he quickly grabbed her shoulders and gently steered her toward a corner. "Oh, T," he sighed sadly. His deep blue eyes were full of sadness and regret. In fact, he had never looked more handsome in the strangest way possible. "I didn't know this would push you over the edge. I'm so, so sorry." Talia smiled slightly and shook her head quickly.

"It's not you," she mumbled, wiping her tears away roughly. "It's Andie-"

"Why, what's she said?" Chase's face went into one of concern.

"No, nothing. She's just so brave. I can't imagine..." Talia shook her head and didn't carry on. Chase took her into a hug and for once, she let him do it. "I just wish I wasn't so rude to her."

"You were angry, and that's my fault," he reminded her quietly. "Again, I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry about it," Talia let go of him and gave him a proper smile. "I am too." Chase breathed out slowly. He was nervous for all that time and was so relieved that this was over.

"Where are you off to now?"

"I have to ask Andie if this is what she wants with the whole situation, according to House." Chase raised his eyebrows.

"Need some help?" he guessed.

"Please," Talia whispered thankfully.

...

"Hey partner," Chase grinned, walking into Andie's room. Her eyes lit up, there was no denying that. Then she saw Talia behind him and she quickly lost the excitement.

"It's alright," Talia gave a tiny smile, her eyes still raw red from crying. "You can look excited. He's a handsome fella." Chase glanced at her and smirked before taking a seat. Andie smiled at this and blushed.

"I'm sorry, I really am-"

"Don't worry," Talia held up her hand.

"I mean I didn't want him to get into trouble," Andie rambled on, her eyes darting from Talia to Chase.

"Well you did get me in trouble with my boss," Chase winced. Talia frowned at this.

"What, the Dr House guy?" Andie gasped.

"No, this one," Chase nudged his head in Talia's direction. Talia couldn't help but giggle at this, alongside Andie surprisingly.

"Look, we just came here to ask if you were perfectly okay with this operation," Talia began, taking the seat on the other side of her.

"My mum did a load of research," Andie sighed heavily. "I guess I have no choice?"

"Not necessarily," Chase frowned. "Uh I could think of ten excellent medical reasons on why this operation should not be performed."

"So all I have to say is no?" Andie confirmed, her eyes going wide.

"That's correct – it's up to you on how quickly you're willing to die," Talia hit it home. Andie admired how blunt she was able to be. Too many doctors would try and put it in a sweet way, sugar-coating everything. But things were different in this hospital. And she liked that.

"I mean I don't wanna leave my mum," Andie admitted, covering her face with her hands.

"I understand that," Talia agreed.

"But are you willing to live another year like this?" Chase then inputted. Andie nodded.

"For my mum? Yeah. I'd do anything! I love her." Talia bit her bottom lip, hard.

"Well then it's settled – we're gonna shut your body down and with luck – restart it," Chase finalised the situation quietly whilst standing up and grabbing the papers.

"You're a brave girl, Andie," Talia whispered, also standing up. Andie gave her a smile of appreciation and watched them leave.

Then suddenly, she called Talia back. Talia poked her head round the door. "What's happened?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk to you for a second," Andie beamed. Talia slowly approached the bedside.

"What's up?"

"Are you okay?" Talia was confused about this question.

"Andie, I'm the doctor, I should be asking you-"

"No it's just that you look a little…well, upset," Andie whispered. Talia could tell that she genuinely cared.

"Right…yeah, I'm okay! Don't worry about me," she smiled. But that smile wasn't going to cut it this time.

"No, seriously. Whatever it is that you're hiding it's hurting you and it's gonna hurt you more if you don't tell anyone," Andie told her wisely. For a nine year old, she was so damn smart. Talia didn't want to have a seizure there and then so she tried to supress all her feelings. But it didn't work.

"I'm fine. I just did something bad a long time ago and I haven't told anyone here about it. Now it looks like its coming back to bite me all these years later and it's just…" Talia closed her mouth and stared at the ceiling, biting back the tears. Andie reached out her hand and patted Talia's lightly.

"It's okay. I know the feeling, it's like when you break your mum's favourite plates and you know she's gonna shout at you but you just don't wanna face it? And it's the disappointment, right? The disappointment in her voice?" Talia nodded, feeling her eyes brim with hot salty baby tears. She never cried this much, ever. "I know. But trust me. If you can't tell anyone, at least tell Doctor Chase. He'll understand. He loves you, I know he does."

"H-how do you know?" Talia cried, wiping her eyes again, angry at herself for crying to a nine year old. "How do you know he won't just get up and leave when he finds out?"

"Because then it wouldn't be love. C'mon, you know that life is way too short to be scared all the time," Andie giggled lightly. Talia smiled, even though her face was soaked through with tears. She was right.

It was time to tell Chase about her past.

**A/N: LONG CHAPTER. It's to apologise for the lack of posting. It was a sad emotional one for this one cos I was listening to sad music. But don't worry – I'm going back to drama. Okay final guesses on what Talia did before I reveal at least part of it…whaddya think? **


	23. Chapter 23 - Blameworthy

"What we got?" Talia asked quickly, walking into the office in the early hours of the next morning. "And why couldn't it wait?"

"I know right? I just got over the whole Andie thing, I don't think I can take any more," Cameron joked light heartedly. Chase kissed Talia quickly and sat in the chair next to her.

"It's another kid if that makes it any better," Foreman began.

"No it doesn't, no more kids," Talia groaned onto the desk.

"This one claims he's…cursed," Foreman finished, a hint of laughter in his voice.

"Cursed with what?" was Cameron's first question.

"Why does it matter? I'm pretty sure he's not," Foreman scoffed.

"Always the disbeliever Foreman," Talia tutted, taking out her mirror and re-doing her hair a little better whilst looking at the patient's file that Cameron had slid over to her.

"Someone's gotta be, or we would be running the weirdest hospital in the world," he grunted back.

"I spoke to the kid, he said something about a secret club, I don't really know what it was," Chase told them slowly, as if he were still trying to make sense of it himself.

"Secret club? What's the secret, that they're all morons?" House scoffed. Everyone turned to see him hobbling in.

"He fell on something in the attic, scraped his arm and then got a rash. He also said it smelt really mouldy up there," Chase continued grimly. "I'm gonna go get a sample. T?"

"You got it," Talia stood up again, grabbing hers and Chase's jackets. Chase turned around to get the door for her but was blocked by someone standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, uh Dr Chase, you got a minute?" the man, who was somewhat older said. Chase went white as a sheet and everyone else watched him in interest.

"I…no, sorry I gotta go," he finally spluttered, walking straight past him without another word. Talia just gave him an apologetic smile and followed her boyfriend out.

"Chase what was that about?" Talia whispered to him as they were on their way to the car. Chase's face was stony and his eyes were dark. He was biting down on his jaw to prevent him from saying anything and didn't speak until they got to the car park. "Chase?"

"T, you're smart, figure it out," he mumbled, opening the car door for her. Talia sighed miserably.

"I take it from the accent…which is strongly Australian but with a hint of…Czech…that he's your dad?" she glanced at him. Chase just leaned against the headrest, eyes closed.

"Yes."

"Oh brilliant. Dr Chase Senior!" Talia smiled, the one dimple showing. Then it went again when she saw how serious Chase's own face was. "No? That's not a good thing?"

"Not at all," Chase cracked one eye open. "Ever." Talia frowned.

"Why not?"

"I'll tell you my secret if you tell me yours," Chase suddenly sprung it up out of nowhere. Talia wasn't expecting it, she could've blurted it out right then and there under pressure, but she didn't.

"That is not a fair trade, to find out what happened between you and your father all I have to do is ask him.." she whispered, staring at him.

"Then you should do just that," Chase muttered, starting the ignition. "Please, ask him for my amusement."

…

When Talia and Chase walked in, they were not expecting the office to be full of the people that were there. There was the usual suspects, Foreman, Cameron and House – then there was Dr Chase. Senior – not Junior. Chase froze as he entered the room, causing Talia to nearly bump into him. "Chase, what's the- ohhhhh wow," Talia trailed off awkwardly.

"I'm gonna choose to ignore what's going on here," Chase grumbled. He walked past his father all the way to the other side of the room. "Okay, I think we should try another antibiotic."

"You really think he's allergic to two antibiotics?" Foreman blinked, staring at the papers desperate for an answer of some sort.

"I want to know what Dr Chase thinks," House piped up.

"Well, it's possible he-" Chase began.

"No, the other Dr Chase," House spoke over him loudly. Chase clamped his mouth shut and said no more. Talia scratched her neck anxiously and Cameron was wincing even though no one else was speaking. Rowan, his father, gulped slightly before beginning.

"Well, the boy gets anthrax, but happens to be allergic to two antibiotics. I really hate to step on anybody's toes, but is it possible your guys got this one wrong?" Chase let out a snort of disbelief.

"The rash is classic anthrax, no one got anything wrong," he waved his father off.

"Except the colour," Talia pointed out timidly. When she saw how stormy Chase's face was she closed her mouth too.

"The rash hasn't turned black yet," Rowan added to this.

"Necrosis can take theoretically as long as two weeks," Chase smirked boastfully.

"Woah! Woah guys, I'm loving this but it isn't a competition. Well…okay it is, hands up who thinks Junior wins?" House hovered his hand over Chase's head. No one put up their hand, then Talia did quickly. "Girlfriend votes, don't count, so it's not necrosis. So let's try again. What do the modules tell us?"

"It's sarcoidosis," Rowan leaned back in his chair.

"Excellent. Cameron, Foreman, go and treat out wonder boy out there for sarcoidosis," House nodded. "I think we should have a family meeting." Cameron and Foreman sighed, sad that they were missing out on what could be an extremely fascinating conversation. Once they left, House cleared his throat. "Dr Chase Senior, I think it's important that we get to know each other, bearing in mind that we could potentially be…" House lowered his voice. "…in-laws." Rowan's eyes went wide.

"You're married?" he asked Chase, sounding saddened.

"Why does that matter to you" Chase blinked. He reached for Talia's hand and held it in his own, rubbing the back of it with his thumbs. "But no, we're not. Yet." Talia's heart plummeted when Chase added the 'yet'. Partly because she was swooned by him, which was unusual because Talia wasn't a romantic person. But then because even if he didn't directly mean it, (which given the amount of time they had been taken, this was likely) Chase had still indirectly said that marrying Talia wasn't exactly impossible – and Talia still had a huge part of her life that she hadn't told him yet.

"I'm Talia House, nice to meet you," she shook his hand, smiling.

"Pleasure," Rowan gave her a small smile back.

"I bet it is," Chase muttered under his breath. House raised an eyebrow. Suddenly, the air got too much for him and he stood up, silently leaving the room.

"Excuse me," Talia whispered politely and following Chase out. He had gone into the laundry room, Talia saw him through the window in the door. She knocked on it and he let her in.

"Why is he here?" was his first bitter question. Talia didn't know if she should answer or not.

"Maybe he misses you," she tried, folding her arms. Chase sniffed – and that's when Talia saw that he was close to tears. "Oh babe, I'm sorry, I know you'll never forgive him for what he's done, about you and your mother, but you need to forgive him-"

"Are you insane?" Chase hissed, now letting one tear dribble down his cheek. His face was turning red and his voice was beginning to crack and break. "I'm not letting him get away with murder. Someone is dead because of him, that's not okay!"

That's what hit it home for Talia. That's when she realised exactly what Chase just said. That's when she decided.

He has to know.

"So you're saying that you'll never forgive someone like that?" Talia clarified. Her voice was barely above a whisper and she was beginning to shake. Chase was in the heat of the moment, and he was about to say 'never' – but something about her face told him not to.

"T?"

"No Chase you have to promise me that you forgive people like your father," Talia begged, tears streaming down her face too. Chase placed his hands on either side of her face and nodded, looking her deep into her eyes. "No Chase say it out loud, s-s-say you forgive me, please, say it."

"I forgive you," Chase said calmly, holding her head still. "Babe I'll always forgive you. Now tell me, how are you like my father?" Talia took the deepest breath she could muster. This was it, this was her curtain call.

"Because someone is dead because of me, too," she sobbed, getting Chase's hands soaking wet with her warm tears.

"Who?" Talia didn't answer. "T, who is dead because of you? Is it Ryan?" At the name, she nodded. "Oh T…I doubt you did anything that contributed to his death-"

"Chase, I did everything to contribute to his death," Talia whispered, feeling faint. Chase felt sick but remained calm.

"What do you mean…?"

"I...I mean…I killed him, Chase. I-I-I killed Ryan."

…

**A/N: DID YOU GUESS. DID YOU? WERE YOU RIGHT? The question is how did she kill him and why? Don't forget, Chase is now the only person who knows…Ryan's own mother, (who is currently of high importance in that hospital being Stacy) doesn't even know. DRAMA AHEAD.**

**And yes I know this episode came before season 2 but I found it a good way to tie in Talia so yes please forgive me!**

- **J x**


	24. Chapter 24 - Defeat

Chase was frozen, like he had just been turned into a block of ice. He could barely breathe, his mind was telling him a million things a second, amongst those million things were the words 'run as fast as you can, she's crazy'. His hands were still on either side of her cheeks, but they didn't have the comforting warmth anymore. It was like he had lost all of the blood in his hands and they were now stone cold. Talia's eyes were continuously streaming with tears, sorry, hot, heavy tears. "Chase, please say something," she sobbed. It was only then that Chase realised he hadn't actually spoken yet.

"I- I mean…did you just…I'm sorry, _w-what did you just say_?" he spoke up. His voice was cracking. Talia gulped the lump back down her throat and shook her head stubbornly, not wanting to repeat it. "T, I need you to say it again. Tell me again what you just said. Those _exact_ words. Please."

"I killed him," she whispered shakily. "I killed Ryan Warner." Chase did a double take and clamped his hands on either side of his head, hard.

"_WARNER_?" he clarified. Talia nodded and let out another sob. "Stacy's son? Oh my god. How did you…h-how…"

"I beat him with a golf club," she confessed. Chase's heart plunged even further into his stomach. "I beat him with a golf club until he was n-nothing more than a bloody mess on the floor and I l-l-left him there to die." Chase's eyes widened and she could read the horror on his face.

"You- oh god," he mumbled. Talia shook her head rapidly, already knowing what was coming next. She placed her hands over both of his a split second before he began to take them away from her cheeks.

"Please Chase don't leave me," she begged him quietly. Chase forced his hands out of her grip and backed away from her in disgust, like she was faeces left on the floor that he nearly trod on. "No babe please don't go, you said you would always forgive me, y-y-you…"

"I can't be with you anymore," he muttered, going pale. "I'm-" He ran out the door as fast as he could, not knowing where he was going but not caring at the same time. Talia let out a heart-wrenching scream and she slid down the wall onto floor. She grabbed the sleeve of her top, stretched it out and shoved it straight into her mouth to muffle the cries of the one person she adored being ripped away from her.

…

"House, we need to talk, _right now_," Chase announced as he burst into the consulting office. Everyone turned to stare at him as if he had gone crazy. House cocked his head to the side and blinked at him in amusement as usual, but said nothing.

"Chase we were kind of in the middle of someth-" Cameron began obviously.

"Not now, Cameron," Chase snapped so viciously that everyone did a double take. That's how House knew it was serious. Well, that and the fact that Chase was shaking, pale and looked like he was either about to vomit or pass out. Or both.

"Everybody out," House told them quietly. They frowned deeper but got up and left anyway, assuming that this was something that wasn't a game to him and was therefore really quite serious. Once the door was shut securely, Chase let out the deepest breath that he was clearly holding in for a while. "Alright. What's going on?"

"What's going on?" Chase repeated in disgust. "_What's going on_? Talia, she kill-" He felt himself gag slightly and took a moment to compose himself properly. He was shivering. "She killed someone. That Ryan guy, she killed him. Killed him, House, stone cold murder." This was the first time that Chase had actually witnessed House being caught off guard and shocked.

"She killed him? Stacy's kid? She actually did it?" he spluttered. Chase ran his hands through his hair stressfully and let out a loud frustrated groan.

"House this explains everything, I-I understand it all now…" he trailed off.

"She told you this?" House suddenly asked.

"Yeah. She told me just now," Chase murmured.

"Where were you both?"

"In the laundry room. She just broke down and told me. Does it matter? What are we gonna do then? What do we tell the police, do will tell , what about Stacy she's gonna wanna to know, do we-"

"Wait, wait, _waaait_, she told you the biggest secret of her life and you left her in there?" House spluttered. "You left her? By herself?"

"House did you not listen to a word I just said?! She's a murderer! She just confessed to murder. W-w-what was I supposed to do, sit there and hold her hand so that we could talk about it over hot chocolate?" Chase threw his hands up exasperatedly. But House wasn't listening, he quickly grabbed his cane and began to hobble out of the room as speedily as he possibly could. "House WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" House spun back around at the speed of lightening.

"You have no idea what she went through with that guy, regardless of what happened, Talia is not physically or mentally stable right now, you know how easily she has these seizures and you've basically left her to have another one. This could kill her, Chase. I'm gonna go and see what's happened, whether you come with me or not, well that's your choice," he hissed. Chase felt incredibly conflicted and torn, but ended up running after him anyway, the good boy getting the best of him. Once House got to the laundry room, Talia was convulsing on the floor again. "Now I hate to say I told you so…" he hummed, bending down to deal with her the best he could. Chase stayed in the doorway. House turned round to face him and rolled his eyes. "Look, we'll figure the situation out later, but for the LOVE of ALL that is good and pure, can you be a doctor give me a hand?" Chase sighed heavily but snapped into action.

…

"She's awake," Cameron told Chase quietly. He simply nodded. They were outside of her ward, leaning against the wall together. "Don't you want to go and see her?" Chase let out a dry laugh and shook his head, still in high levels of disbelief. "What? What's so funny? Or not so funny…"

"Nothing. Thanks for your help Cameron," Chase interrupted her quickly.

"Whatever's happened, she loves you," Cameron whispered to him. Chase stared at her.

"What do you mean whatever's happened?"

"I know you're not okay right now, Chase. It's not a secret, you don't look okay you look broken," Cameron mumbled. She lowered her eyes to the floor. "When you two argue we all know. You love each other even though you don't want to admit it so soon. Just stick it out, please? I feel like she would do anything for you." Chase said nothing but clenched his jaw. He knew he was going to raise suspicion if he didn't act normally so he went into the ward, closing the door behind him. Talia, when she saw him, clamped her hands over her mouth and her eyes welled up with tears again.

"I didn't mean to, I didn't know what the hell I was doing Robert please, he hurt me so badly I lost control, but I don't want to lose you, I can't," she tried to sound firm but her voice and her hands were shaking. Chase slowly walked up to the bed, pulled a chair and sat next to her.

"Talia-"

"I will confess, I'll tell everything to everyone but I don't want you to leave me," she continued to cry. She only stopped talking once she felt Chase's hands on hers. Talia stared at him in confusion. Her eyes were misty and her cheeks were sodden but she saw him clearly. Chase slowly brought her hands up to his mouth and gently pressed his lips on them.

"I love you," he whispered, rubbing his thumbs against the backs of her hands. "I'm here for you babe. It's not gonna be easy but I promise we'll get through this." Talia couldn't speak but Chase knew what she was trying to say. "So take a deep breath, in and out…and tell me what the hell happened with you and Ryan."

**A/N: HI! YES I'M BACK NO I'M NOT DROPPING THIS STORY! Not a chance! But WOW I want to thank EVERYONE for their continuous support here, I had to finish my school year before university and honestly didn't have time but now I do and wow, you guys have really made me emotional with your messages and stuff, like I didn't expect this story to get this many followers and that much support but…wow, just wow. Thank you! And I've still got so much to write here as well, cos technically we're only in season 2 out of 8!**

- **J x**


	25. Chapter 25 - Confession

Christmas was just around the corner, yet for the hospital, it felt like anything BUT Christmas. Tensions were running high within the team – there seemed to be an official divide between Chase, Talia and House against Cameron, Cuddy and Foreman, purely because half of them knew what was going on with Talia and half of them had no idea. Talia wasn't able to talk to Chase about what had happened between her and Ryan that night, every time she tried to, she started to seize and they just couldn't risk it. So they went back to what they thought would be the wisest idea – i.e/ pretend that it wasn't happening.

"Wait. Since when did House hang out at OTB?" Cameron frowned one winter morning. Talia looked up from where she was sitting quietly at her end of the desk and opened her mouth to defend her father, but decided against it.

"Are you that surprised? The guy's an addict," Foreman reminded her.

"Yeah but addicted to pills, not to gambling," Chase muttered. Foreman shot him a glare.

"Defending House now are we?" Cameron sighed under her breath. Talia, once again, didn't trust herself to speak but she was certainly unhappy about the comments that were being made.

"Wow Dr Chase, that's the first time you've spoken to me in a long time. And, for your information it's the same thing! They all rile up the pleasure part of the brain, an addict-"

"Gambling doesn't take away his pain," Chase scoffed back. House prodded the door open with his cane and waltzed in.

"Actually it does when I win. So! Hot OTB babe, has grand mal and inexplicable bruising, what's happened here?" he asked, chucking the chart on the table. It landed right in front of Talia but she didn't move, she just sat there.

"So wait. You were just standing there and she started to seize?" Cameron blinked.

"Wouldn't be the first time it's happened to me would it?" House hummed, nudging his head in Talia's direction suggestively. She rolled her eyes but kept her mouth closed.

"Maybe she has an STD, an infection?" Chase coughed.

"No fever, no infection," House ruled it out. Talia noticed there was a sound coming from her fingertips to the tabletop. She looked down swiftly and saw that she was shaking, dangerously hard.

"Ch-Chase," she managed to whisper out hoarsely under the chattering talk of diagnosis. Chase heard her and snapped his head towards her – and saw that there was blood slowly trickling from her nose. He began to panic, but soon remembered where he was and more importantly, what he did for a living. He didn't want to make a scene and Talia could see it in his face. So she simply got up and ran out of the office, giving Chase no choice but to follow her.

"T!" he shouted. Talia turned around the best she could whilst pinching the bridge of her nose as hard as she could with her head thrown back. Chase pushed her into an empty ward, gently sat her down on the bed and grabbed paper towels from the drawers next to it. "It's alright babe, I got you. You can put your hands down now," he hummed. Talia let go of her nose obediently and he began to clean her up. There were a few moments of a comfortable silence before Chase broke it, as usual. "T, you can't just act like this isn't happening forever. You're scarred by it, I can see it in your eyes. That's why you keep having these moments, the guilt-"

"Thanks Chase, I got it," Talia interrupted him hastily. It was the first time she had spoken properly all day. Chase bit down on his bottom lip and continued to clean her up. He was aware that he really had to tiptoe around this topic, any word too harsh and he could potentially set her off again.

"I think you should talk to someone about what happened and we can move on from there, right?" he tried again. Talia gradually put her head forward again to stare at Chase like he was absolutely insane.

"You're not that clever are you?" she said sceptically.

"Talia please just hear me out," Chase begged, standing her back up properly. Talia kept quiet and looked at him. Chase took this as a signal to carry on. "If you spoke to anyone about it, even if it was just me, I think it would help you enormously. We can decide what you wanna do about it afterwards, okay? But just get it out there bub, tell me what he did." Talia felt her head move before she could do anything about it and before she knew it, she was nodding in agreement.

…

That evening, Chase sat on the sofa and Talia sat next to him with a thick blanket wrapped around the both of them. "Alright bub, try and start from the beginning," Chase yawned. Talia took a small sip of the creamy hot chocolate Chase previously made for her and began to speak.

"Well…what do you want to know?" she asked nervously. "No. Wait. Before you even tell me, you have to promise that you won't hate me or judge me, o-okay? You have to promise me." Chase sighed but nodded in solid agreement.

"Okay I promise. Can you start with who Ryan is?" he began. "But take your time, okay?"

"Ryan is…was…m-my boyfriend at the time. We went out for an average of three years," Talia stopped what she was saying as she felt herself get a sudden cold shiver again. Chase saw and grabbed her hand in his own and kissed the back of it softly.

"It's alright," he whispered. "Go on, when you're ready." Talia bit down on her jaw but continued the best she could.

"One day he…I didn't want to…and then he…made me-" She burst into tears and fell directly onto her boyfriends' lap in an overemotional heap. Chase found that he was frozen in his seat, stuck on what to do now. He was somewhere between furious and distressed, stroking Talia's soft blonde hair in comfort.

"Oh baby girl, I'm so sorry," he murmured, hearing the front door open and looking up to see House and Wilson walk in with bags of Chinese food. "Whatever you did it doesn't matter. He got exactly what he deserved."

"You found out what happened?" House mouthed over to Chase from across the room.

"Kinda," Chase mouthed back. "Talia, bub. Sit up for a second," he told his girlfriend quietly. Talia sniffed and sat up properly. "Was that whose baby it was? You gave birth to his dead baby?" She let out another whimper and fell back onto his lap, unable to actually speak.

"Woah," House raised an eyebrow. "It's all making sense now." Chase breathed out of his nose and threw his head back.

"Now what?" Wilson hissed to the men in the room.

"What do you mean?!" Chase snapped his head back up. "We go to Stacy and tell her what a disgusting vile little piece of scum her son actually was." Wilson turned to House for his verdict.

"In this unique set of circumstances," House began lowly. "I gotta agree with Dr Home & Away here. We have to tell her."

**A/N: Merry Christmas! Well I've just started the ground running for the drama in this story so I hope you guys liked this chapter, big twist coming soon but until then, enjoy your holidays everyone!**

- **J x**


	26. Chapter 26 - Truths

"Yep?" Stacy called from behind her office door. Talia's heart began to slam ruthlessly against her chest, her fingers shaking even though they were entwined with Chase's. House sighed and whacked the door open, cane first. Stacy couldn't keep the look of boredom off her face as he hobbled in. "If this is anything to do with-"

"I'm gonna need you not to talk, not this time," he hissed. Stacy raised an eyebrow and leaned back in her swivel chair. Chase gently steered Talia in, hands on her shoulders. "Not until Talia has said all she has to say."

"Oh? Talia's doing the talking is she? This should be entertaining to say the least," she hummed. Her eyes carried a look of daringness, which unnerved Talia to no end.

"Come on Chase," House muttered under his breath. "Let's leave them to it." Chase looked extremely hesitant – his hands hadn't even moved off Talia's shoulders yet.

"Please don't leave me," Talia whispered croakily, turning around to face him. "Y-you…" House let out a huge groan and tugged a spluttering Chase backwards with him.

"Fine. We'll start it off for you! Stacy, your son is a slimy rapist!" he called, just before they both disappeared completely out of the room. Talia heard the harsh gasp emit from Stacy's lips and couldn't help but wince.

"What did he just say?" Talia turned around and composed herself, biting her lip and swallowing her fear. She took a deep breath – then spoke.

"Your son. Your beloved son, he did that to me. I carried his baby. I was alone, I was scared-" Stacy didn't look like she was buying any of this.

"No. No you're lying, you're lying as usual," she spat, going back to whatever work she was doing before.

"I'm not," Talia responded as calmly as she could. "I know you don't want to hear it but-" Suddenly, Stacy slammed her hands down on the desk and lunged forward, making Talia lean back slightly.

"He would never. You're trying to get it off your filthy conscience, you're trying to justify what you did to my son but you can't, it won't work!" she snapped. "Now get out of my office." Talia was close to breaking point, but she had to try again.

"Have you ever wondered how the police haven't captured or sentenced me? Because there's no evidence of Ryan even being dead. They can't find the body, so how-" Stacy went straight up to her and delivered a solid slap right around her face. It's like it all happened in slow motion. Talia gradually felt the stinging sensation spread underneath her skin, causing her to wince and see red before pouncing straight onto Stacy, pushing her onto the desk.

"WOAH! T! T, STOP!" came a panicked Australian accent, as Talia felt her arms restrained back so that she couldn't swing. Stacy's eyes were squeezed shut – she was expecting something to attack her.

"DAMN YOU!" Talia screamed at the top of her lungs whilst Chase dragged her backwards through the office doors kicking and screaming. "If by some miracle he is dead, I hope you burn with him!" Chase managed to get her through the hallways and into House's empty office, where he tried to calm her down, leaving House with a panting and confused Stacy.

"T, look at me," he murmured, holding her face still and staring straight into her eyes. She tried to avoid his eye contact, but couldn't. "Talia. Please." She finally relaxed, giving in.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," she whispered. Chase gave her a sad smile and brushed her hair out of her face. "God she's so gonna get me fired."

"Yeah well…would you really wanna work in a hospital run by her anyway?" Chase asked seriously, even though he looked a little disappointed.

"She doesn't have to. Stacy quit," came House's solemn voice. The couple's heads snapped up as he walked through, his face a mix of relief and worry.

"On what basis?" Chase asked immediately, already feeling better.

"She doesn't need one," House answered quietly. He turned to Talia and gave her a short nod. "You can relax now." And with that, he left. Chase turned to Talia with a huge smile on his face and engulfed her in a hug.

"Told you it would be okay," he grinned, giving her a quick kiss. "At least she's off your back." Talia wanted to be relieved – but she couldn't. Something about House's face really unsettled her.

"House didn't look overly pleased," she mumbled awkwardly. "I feel bad for some reason." Chase scoffed and stood up, walking over to the coffee machine that stood in the corner of the room.

"Please, House is a grown man, he can get over it," he told her firmly. But Talia was right. Over the next few days, House's personality seemed to have shifted dramatically. He was a lot snappier and a lot more unfocussed. He put it down to his leg hurting, but Talia knew it was something else. She just couldn't put her finger on it. One night, whilst sleeping at Chase's house, she was so uncomfortable that she even went as far as calling Wilson. She sat in Chase's bed whilst on the phone to him, dressed in one of his tops with her hair in a messy topknot.

"I'm telling you Talia, he was still in love with Stacy," Wilson stressed over the line. Talia sighed and sat back in the bed with her legs crossed, watching Chase take off his work clothes, humming to himself. "She was meant to leave ages ago but he convinced her to stay – somehow. I guess this really was down to either you or her – and he chose to protect you." Talia bit her lip, scratching the back of her neck. She felt even guiltier now, by far.

"Oh god…I didn't know he was even…capable of looking at it that way!" she hissed to Wilson. Chase glanced over and raised a sceptical eyebrow, now completely topless. "House hasn't exactly shown any selflessness before has he?"

"You got that right," Chase laughed to himself lightly, causing Talia to frown at him with silent irritation.

"Well he does, just not in…the most obvious way," Wilson worded carefully. "I don't know Talia. I think he's back to normal now but I guess you can thank him for what he did-"

"I do! Every single day," Talia sighed. "I just feel like nothing is enough." Chase finally finished changing and crawled into bed next to her, placing a soft kiss on her cheek before turning off the bedside lamp, lying down and almost immediately falling asleep. Talia was about to do the same, when her phone started buzzing. She took it from her ear and peered at the screen – she had an incoming call from an unknown number. "Okay Wilson, thanks for talking to me! I gotta go," Talia rushed out quietly.

"Anytime Talia. See you tomorrow, take care," Wilson yawned back, before hanging up. As soon as he did, Talia answered the incoming call from the random number.

"Hello?" she whispered. There was no response – just breathing. Heavy, longing, panting. "Hello?"

"You thought you could get rid of me, didn't you?" a voice suddenly interrupted. It was a man's voice, low and gravelly, and full of what sounded like revenge. Talia felt her heart freeze completely. She couldn't even breathe properly – everything in her just told her to slap Chase as quickly as possible in panic.

"W-who is this?" she asked shakily. Chase cracked an eye open after Talia hit him for the second time.

"You'll see," the voice laughed. "You'll see." And with that, he hung up. Talia let the phone fall into her lap and jumped fearfully as she felt a hand graze against her thigh. But it was just Chase.

"What happened babe? Who was that?" he grumbled, his voice full of sleep. Talia stared at the phone, then at her confused messy haired boyfriend.

"Wrong number," she answered quietly. "Nothing important, go back to-" But Chase was already fast asleep, leaving a scared Talia sitting alone in the dark, too petrified to even close her eyes.

**A/N: Can I just say the support I have for this story has been ridiculously overwhelming (for me) and I want to thank you for all your reviews, good or bad, I am learning as I continue writing. I know that this story has had a few hiccups but I don't want to go and edit them, I want to carry on with them in, build on them to become better. Thank you so much for everything guys, I swear it's only up from here! Let's do thissss.**

- **J x **


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